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CHRISTIANITY 

AND 

THE  NEW 
IDEALISM 


BY 

RUDOLF  EUCKEN 


HARPER  K 
BROTHERS 

LONDON  ?iNEWYOEK 


CHRISTIANITY 

AND   THE 

NEW   IDEALISM 

A  STUDY  IN  THE  RELIGIOUS  PHILOSOPHY 
OF  TO-DAY 

BY 

RUDOLF   EUCKEN 

PROFESSOR   OF   PHILOSOPHY   IN   THE    UNIVERSITY  OF  JENA 
AWARDED  THE  NOBEL  PRIZE   FOR  LITERATURE   IN   1908 

TRANSLATED    BY 

LUCY  JUDGE   GIBSON 

CLASSICAL   AND  ORIENTAL  TRIPOSES,   CAMB. 
AND 

W.  R.  BOYCE  GIBSON,  M.A.  (OXON.) 

EXAMINER   IN    PHILOSOPHY   IN    THE   UNIVERSITY    OF    LONDOM 
AUTHOR   OF    'RUDOLF   EUCKEN'S   PHILOSOPHY  OF    LIFE,'  ETC. 


LONDON  AND  NEW  YORK 
HARPER    &   BROTHERS 

45  ALBEMARLE  STREET,  W. 
1912 


First  Edition    .    .    .    October    iqoq 
Second  Edition  .    .     .    January  igt2 


PREFACE  TO  THE  FIRST  AND 
SECOND   EDITIONS 

THIS  book  is  the  outcome  of  lectures  given 
at  Jena  on  October  23  and  24,  1906,  in  con- 
nection with  the  Theological  Vacation  Course. 
These  lectures  grappled  with  certain  problems 
which  deal  with  the  sharp  oppositions  that 
perplex  our  life  to-day,  and  therefore  seem  to 
call  very  specially  for  elucidation.  In  the  course 
of  our  inquiry  we  have  sought  to  show  as  clearly 
as  possible  what  these  oppositions  are,  and  have 
done  our  best  to  surmount  them. 

The  first  lecture  deals  with  the  grounding  of 
religion  in  the  inner  life.  Our  aim  in  this 
lecture  is  to  find  some  mean  between  the  older 
thought  which  favoured  the  cosmological  ap- 
proach to  religion,  and  the  newer  which  takes 
the  human  soul  as  its  starting-point,  but  is  so 
liable  to  the  defects  of  vagueness  and  formlessness. 
Over  against  both  these  methods  we  proceed  to 
elaborate  a  system  which,  while  based  on  the 
inner  life,  still  preserves  a  cosmic  character. 
In  this  way  a  clear  distinction  is  drawn  between 


PREFACE 

a  religion  of  the  spiritual  life  and  a  religion  that 
is  merely  humanistic. 

The  subject  of  the  second  section  is  "  Religion 
and  History."  There  is  hardly  anything  so  sig- 
nificant for  the  position  of  religion  to-day  as  the 
tendency  to  refer  continually  to  history.  What- 
ever the  advantages  of  such  reference,  we  must 
not  ignore  its  dangers.  It  was  incumbent  on 
us  to  weigh  them  well,  and  in  particular  to  ascer- 
tain whether  it  were  possible  to  overcome  the 
evils  of  a  stifling  and  enervating  historicity, 
whilst  still  maintaining  the  significance  of 
history  in  opposition  to  a  radicalism  which  is 
hostile  to  it.  This  we  could  not  do  without 
framing  certain  fundamental  convictions  as  to 
the  meaning  of  history  which  shed  a  new  light 
on  the  picture  of  life  as  a  whole,  and  therefore 
concern  each  of  us  individually. 

Lastly,  the  incessant  disputes  wagea  to-day 
over  the  nature  and  value  of  Christianity  invite 
philosophers  also  to  consider  the  question : 
What  is  Christianity  ?  The  main  fimction  of 
philosophy  in  the  matter  is  to  bring  out  the 
spiritual  character  of  the  Christian  Faith,  and  dis- 
cuss the  type  of  life  peculiar  to  it.  We  must  reach 
a  conception  which  is  sufficiently  broad  to  take 
in  all  that  is  vital  to  the  temper  of  this  Faith 
and  allow  it  full  freedom  to  develop;  while  yet 
sufficiently  definite  to  afford  clear  guidance   to 


PREFACE 

thought  and  life,  and  stand  as  a  protest  against 
the  mischievous  vagueness  so  prevalent  in  the 
treatment  of  these  matters  to-day.  Our  discussion 
takes  us  back  to  that  which  is  most  fundamental 
in  life,  and  seeks  at  the  same  time,  through  a  brief 
historical  apergu,  to  sum  up  and  appreciate  the 
part  which  Christianity  has  played  in  the  world's 
development.  Throughout  we  expressly  defend 
the  right  of  the  modern  world  to  shape  Christian- 
ity in  its  own  way. 

While  our  inquiry  presupposes  a  systematic 
philosophical  position,  it  is  yet  couched  in  as 
easy  and  intelligible  terms  as  the  case  admitted, 
and  addressed  not  merely  to  academic  circles, 
but  to  all  who,  to-day,  amid  the  prevalent 
spiritual  confusion,  are  still  concerned  with  the 
problem  of  religion  and,  in  the  treatment  of  this 
problem,  desire  freedom  without  shallowness  and 
depth  without  immobility. 


PREFACE  TO  THE  THIRD  EDITION 

THE  change  in  the  third  edition,  so  far  as 
the  first  three  sections  of  the  subject  are 
concerned,  amounts  to  no  more  than  an  occasional 
simplification  of  the  style.  But  as  I  recast  the 
matter  in  my  mind,  and  re-read  these  sections 
with  a  freshened  insight,  I  received  the  impression 
that  whilst  the  individual  sentences  still  faithfully 
recorded  my  true  convictions,  the  effect  of  the 
work  as  a  whole  was  to  make  my  views  tally 
more  closely  than  they  really  do  with  the  tra- 
ditional, ecclesiastical  form  of  Christianity.  The 
need  which  we  feel  for  new  forms  of  religious 
and  Christian  life  was  not  sufficiently  emphasised. 
Sincerity,  it  seemed,  required  that  I  should 
bring  out  the  real  divergence  more  clearly,  and 
it  is  in  response  to  this  requirement  that  I  have 
added  a  new  section  to  the  present  edition. 

Rudolf  Eucken. 
Jena,  May,  igog. 


TRANSLATORS'  PREFACE 

THE  following  translation  of  the  work  of 
Professor  Eucken,  entitled  "  Hauptprobleme 
der  Religionsphilosophie  der  Gegenwart,"  follows 
closely  the  third  German  edition.  The  English 
title,  "Christianity  and  the  New  Idealism" — 
originally  suggested  to  us  by  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Maldwyn  Hughes — has  the  express  approval  of 
the  •  author  on  the  ground  that  it  accurately 
designates  the  central  topic  of  the  work,  particu- 
larly when  we  take  into  account  the  new  section 
added  in  the  third  edition. 

We  have  the  author's  sanction  also  for  two  or 
three  "light  divergences  from  the  German  text. 

(i)'On  page  i  the  phrase  immediately  following 
the  words  "What  is  Christianity  ?  "  arises 
naturally  out  of  the  adding  of  the  new 
section  in  the  third  edition. 

(2)  On  page  2  the  word  "  Unerkennbares  "  (lit. 
unknowable)  is  translated  by  the  term 
"unfathomable";  the  purport  of  the 
context  being  that  beyond  the  finite  or 
exhaustible  stretches  in  all  directions  the 
infinite  or  inexhaustible. 


PREFACE 

(3)  On  page  18  the  phrase  "there  is  no  neces- 
sary incentive  to  religious  aspiration  "  is 
the  translation  of  a  slightly  modified  form 
of  the  (jerman  original  which  the  author 
himself  suggested  as  conveying  his  true 
meaning  more  explicitly  than  the  cor- 
responding terms  of  the  original  version. 

The  translators'  best  thanks  are  due  to  Professor 
Eucken  for  so  cordially  considering  and  answering 
a  number  of  troublesome  little  questions,  and  also 
for  his  most  valuable  co-operation  in  the  revision 
of  the  proofs, 

L.  J.  G. 
W.  R.  B.  G. 


CONTENTS 


PAGB 

Preface  to  the  First  and  Second  Editions      .    vii 
Preface  to  the  Third  Edition     .        .        .        .      x 

Translators'  Preface xi 

I.  Religion  as  Grounded  in  the  Inner  Life  .  i 
Rejection  of  a  merely  emotional  religion — The  essence 
of  the  Spiritual  Life — The  independence  of  the 
Spiritual  Life — The  fundamental  fact  of  Religion — 
Stages  of  the  Spiritual  Life — The  Spiritual  Life  in 
conflict — Aper(u  of  the  Spiritual  Life  in  man — 
Religion  and  Psychology — Attitude  towards  Anthro- 
pomorphism— The  Problem  of  Immediacy — Personal 
truth  as  th«  ground  of  all  truth. 

II.  Religion  and  History 31 

The  older  conception  of  history — Historical  criticism 
— The  destructive  influence  of  historical  criticism — 
The  Positivist  view  of  Religion — The  nothingness 
of  mere  Becoming — The  history  of  Nature  and  of 
Spirit — The  eternal  in  history — The  significance  of 
particular  epochs  and  persons — Rejection  of  mere 
historicity — Criticism  of  the  older  method — Transi- 
tions within  the  Spiritual  Life — Transitions  within 
the  world  of  thought — Change  in  the  emotional 
tone  of  life — Diff"erence  between  New  and  Old — 
Problems  and  Anticipations. 


CONTENTS 

rxcB 

III.  What  is  Christianity? 69 

Statement  of  the  Problem— Types  of  life— The  Hindu 

type — Yes  and  No  in  Christianity — Appreciation  of 
Sorrow — Union  of  human  and  Divine  —  Heroic 
quality  of  Christianity  —  Demands  of  the  world  of 
thought — Limits  of  historical  criticism — The  element 
of  greatness  in  great  personalities — The  religious 
significance  of  a  great  personality — The  broadly 
human  character  of  Christianity — Reconciliation  of 
Semitic  and  Indogermanic  types — Christianity  and 
the  Germanic  races — Influence  of  Christianity  on 
different  epochs — Influence  of  Christianity  on  the 
modern  world— Opposition  between  Christianity  and 
modem  thought — The  unshakeable  certainty  of  Re- 
ligion—Revival of  Religion  at  the  present  time— The 
disappearance  of  false  intermediaries — Retrospect. 

IV.  The  CoxNFlict  over  Christianity  to-day         .  113 

1.  The  anti-Christian  movement. 

2.  The  revival  of  religious  interest. 

3.  The  perplexities  of  the  new  situation. 

4.  The  Churches  and  their  divisions. 


CHRISTIANITY  AND  THE 
NEW  IDEALISM 


RELIGION  AS  GROUNDED  IN  THE 
INNER  LIFE 

THE  following  lectures  require  an  indulgent 
hearing.  And  this,  largely  because  their 
subject-matter,  by  its  very  nature,  demands  a 
more  thorough  treatment  and  a  more  searching 
analysis  than  it  is  possible  to  give  within  the  com- 
pass of  a  few  lectures.  But  this  very  limitation 
may  have  its  advantages.  If  we  can  only  throw 
out  a  few  suggestions  and  present  certain  points 
of  view,  this  may  serve  to  set  the  main  issue  in 
clearer  relief.  Our  intention  is  to  begin  with  the 
psychical  basis  of  religion,  then  proceed  to  treat 
of  the  relation  between  religion  and  history,  and 
lastly  to  discuss  the  question,  What  is  Christianity, 
and  how  can  it  meet  the  difficulties  it  is  encounter- 
ing to-day  ?  We  shall  thus  proceed  from  the 
universal  to  the  particular,  from  base  to  summit, 
and  we  hope  in  this  way  to  carry  one  fundamental 
idea  through  all  the  diversity  of  our  treatment. 

To  think  that  the  discovery  of  a  religious  basis 
is  a  simple  and  easy  matter  betokens  but  a  poor 
and   weak   conception   of  religion.     That   there 


THE  BASIS  OF  RELIGION 

remains  beyond  our  sphere  some  dim  immensity 
of  Being,  some  unfathomable  depth  beyond  all 
that  our  plummet  can  reach,  is  indeed  scarcely 
open  to  dispute.  But  to  admit  this  is  not  yet  to 
enter  into  relationship  with  this  unfathomed  deep, 
and  the  admission  therefore  fails  to  give  us  a 
religion. 

But  even  if  we  were  agreed  in  our  conception 
of  the  Unknown,  if  we  regarded  it  as  a  Power 
higher  than  ourselves,  but  including  us  within  the 
sphere  of  its  influence,  we  should  yet  be  none  the 
nearer  to  a  religion.  For  it  is  essential  to  reli- 
gion that  the  higher  Power  in  our  midst  should  be 
not  merely  an  influence  but  a  living  Presence,  and 
that  our  relationship  to  this  Presence  should  not 
be  just  any  sort  of  relation,  but  one  in  which  our 
whole  nature  is  involved.  How  we  are  to  reach 
certainty  in  this  matter  is  not  so  obvious.  We 
must  first  find  the  point  of  view  from  which  the 
problem  can  be  attacked.  And  in  order  to  do  this 
satisfactorily  we  must  characterise  afresh  the  con- 
cepts of  hfe  and  reality. 

Now  in  the  handling  of  this  problem  there  is  one 
point  at  least  on  which  we  are  to-day  united  :  it  is 
not  through  scrutinising  the  world  around  us  that 
we  can  hope  to  arrive  at  the  goal  we  seek.  No 
clear  demonstration  of  the  excellency  of  this  world 
will  allow  us  to  infer  a  transcendent  Reason  as  the 
cause  of  it.  The  bold  efforts  of  the  Enlightenment 
along  these  lines  have  had  the  ground  cut  from 
under  them  by  Kant's  "  Critique."  Moreover,  the 
experiences  of  the  nineteenth  century  have  made 
us  so  keenly  alive  to  the  brute  force  of  fact  and  the 
resistance  which  all  spiritual  ideals  must  encoimter, 


THE   RELIGION  OF   FEELING 

that  we  can  put  no  trust  in  this  intellectual  road 
to  religion.  Even  should  it  prove  eminently  success- 
ful, the  most  it  could  give  would  be  a  religious  view 
of  the  universe,  not  a  real  religion  affecting  the 
whole  man,  strengthening  and  uphfting  the  soul. 

There  has  thus  been  a  reaction  from  intellectual- 
ism,  so  that  we  now  seek  the  basis  of  religion  deep 
in  the  soul  itself,  in  the  characteristic  experiences 
and  disclosures  of  man's  inward  life.  An  over- 
powering conviction  persuades  us  that  we  need  not 
wait  for  some  other  sphere  than  this  in  order  to 
prove  the  reality  of  a  higher  Order,  and  put  our- 
selves in  relation  to  it.  The  one  possible  point  of 
departure  is  the  life-process  itself,  and  only  in  so 
far  as  we  bring  its  content  and  procedure  into 
clearer  light  can  we  realise  that  a  new  Order  already 
exists. 

But  incontestably  sound  as  this  general  idea 
may  be,  there  is  stiU  much  room  for  misconception 
when  applying  it  in  detail.  In  particular,  there  is 
a  danger  lest  that  which  professes  to  transcend 
intellectualism  should  become  a  merely  reactionary 
movement.  In  other  words,  there  are  many  people 
who  fly  from  one  extreme  to  the  other,  and  take 
refuge  from  the  objectivity  of  intellectual  work 
in  the  subjectivity  of  mere  feeling,  in  the  self- 
absorption  of  a  soul  detached  as  far  as  possible 
from  the  experience  of  the  world.  In  this 
self-centred  life  there  are  many  needs  to  be 
met,  many  claims  to  be  adjusted,  and  such  as  pre- 
sent themselves  with  greatest  insistence  and  brook 
no  denial  seem  entitled  to  look  confidently  for 
satisfaction.  In  particular  it  would  seem  that  we 
were  justified  in  trusting  to  the  reality  of  that  which 


THE  BASIS  OF  RELIGION 

appears  necessary  to  our  moral  self-preservation. 
But  this  brings  us  straight  to  religion,  since  only  a 
Power  that  is  not  of  this  world  can  guard  us  from 
the  perils  of  an  alien  and  hostile  Order, 

In  pursuing  this  train  of  thought  it  is  by  no 
means  easy  to  distinguish  concisely  between  right 
and  wrong,  necessary  and  problematic.  So  much, 
however,  we  may  assert :  that  there  is  here  grave 
danger  of  falling  into  mere  subjectivism.  To  make 
an  inference  from  man  to  something  beyond  man 
is  allowable  only  when  man  is  more  than  a  mere 
point  over  against  the  infinite,  when  it  is  possible 
to  distinguish  in  him  a  particular  and  a  universal 
aspect,  and  to  show  that  inwardly  he  participates 
in  a  cosmic  life.  If  he  is  to  have  those  universal 
experiences  which  religion  demands,  he  must 
have  inward  kinship  with  a  universe.  The  world 
without  can  only  be  matched  and  overcome  by  an 
organised  world  of  spiritual  origin.  If,  on  the 
other  hand,  man  is  severed  from  all  connexion  with 
a  universal  life  and  is  shut  up  to  an  isolated  exist- 
ence of  his  own,  then,  though  he  may  build  up  a 
realm  of  wishes,  hopes,  and  fancies,  he  can  never 
make  it  real  and  authoritative  for  humanity. 
Yet  that  there  is  some  superhuman  Power  at  work 
within  us,  lifting  us  above  the  narrow  hmits  of  our 
private  and  particular  existence,  renewing  us  and 
also  transforming  our  relations  to  our  fellow  men, 
is  the  supreme  truth  for  which  religion  stands.  It 
is  through  realising  in  ourselves  the  stirrings  and 
impulses  of  the  larger  life  that  we  win  access  to  ex- 
periences of  a  universal  nature.  But  if  the  Subject 
be  taken  in  abstraction  from  the  world,  then 
Voltaire's  dictum  holds  good,  and  the  strength  of 


THE  RELIGION  OF  FEELING 

a  need  is  no  proof  whatsoever  that  it  shall  be 
satisfied.  To  infer  from  a  need  to  the  satisfaction 
of  it  is  possible  only  to  him  who  is  convinced 
that  reality  is  rationed.  If  this  be  not  yet  proved, 
then  to  start  from  the  premise  of  human  need  is 
simply  to  argue  in  a  circle. 

But  even  if  we  were  to  regard  this  inference  as  a 
practicable  method  of  approach,  the  religion  to 
which  it  would  lead  us  must  yet  inevitably  fail  to 
satisfy  the  religious  idea.  For  religion  would  be- 
come far  too  much  a  matter  of  mere  feeling  and 
mood ;  it  would  seem  to  avoid  all  entanglement 
with  the  great  world-problems  and  would  shrink 
from  allying  itself  too  closely  with  the  interests  of 
human  culture.  It  would  constitute  a  separate 
realm,  which  no  amount  of  subjective  emotion  and 
excitement  could  succeed  in  preserving  from  spiri- 
tual barrenness.  Man  cannot  be  resolved  into  mere 
states  of  feeling :  there  is  something  objective  in 
his  constitution,  and  with  this  he  must  reckon.  A 
spiritual  being,  a  microcosm  such  as  he  is,  is  forced 
by  a  necessity  of  his  innermost  nature  to  concern 
himself  with  the  universe.  If  the  intellectualistic 
method  threatened  to  degrade  religion  to  a  mere 
way  of  viewing  the  world,  so  the  method  which 
proceeds  from  mere  mental  states — be  they  voli- 
tions, affections,  or  aught  else  soever — tends  to 
make  of  it  a  mere  matter  of  fluctuating  feeling ; 
and  though  the  latter  way  may  show  more  warmth 
and  emotion,  yet  it  lacks  breadth ;  it  offers  no 
vigorous  opposition  to  mere  subjectivism,  it  binds 
man  down  too  strictly  to  a  merely  human  stand- 
point. 

There  is  clearly  no  gain  in  shifting  from  one 


THE  BASIS  OF  RELIGION 

alternative  to  the  other.  Progress  is  possible  only 
if  we  succeed  in  somehow  transcending  the  opposi- 
tion. And  this  we  cannot  do  unless  we  are  able 
to  pass  beyond  the  co-existence  of  the  various 
psychical  activities,  the  separation  of  the  so-called 
psycliical  faculties,  to  a  primal  and  independent 
unity  of  which  all  manifoldncss  is  the  development 
and  expression.  In  this  unity  the  truth  of  man's 
participation  in  a  universal  life  is  botmd  to  reveal 
itself :  his  experience  must  have  a  cosmic  signifi- 
cance. Then  and  then  only  is  it  possible  to  ground 
religion  in  the  inner  life.  For  in  this  cosmic  import 
of  our  experience  we  have  indeed  a  guarantee  of 
the  presence  and  working  of  a  higher  Order.  Thus 
the  real  question  is  whether  we  are  able,  through 
the  active  concentration  of  our  powers,  to  detect 
the  working  of  this  cosmic  life  within  us.  On  the 
answer  to  this  question  depends  the  whole  possi- 
bility of  grounding  religion  within  the  soul. 

Now  to  this  question  our  answer  is  a  confident 
affirmative,  and  we  rest  our  affirmation  on  the  fact 
of  the  spiritual  life.  We  are  not  as  sensible  as  we 
might  be  to  the  importance  and  value  of  this  fact 
simply  because  that  which  is  immediately  and 
everyAvhere  present  is  always  liable  to  be  taken  for 
granted  and  treated  as  insignificant.  Thus  we  fail 
to  perceive  and  appreciate  aright  the  marvel 
which  is  implied  in  the  development  of  the  Spiritual 
Life  within  us.  In  opposition  to  a  mere  series  of 
detached  experiences,  the  more  primitive  form  of 
existence  in  which  life  is  no  more  than  a  succession 
of  momentary  associations,  there  emerges  within  us 
an  entirely  new  life,  a  life  that  is  also  a  world,  in 
which  every  single  activity  is  sustained  and  ani- 
6 


THE  SPIRITUAL  LIFE 


mated  by  a  common  endeavour.  Many  indications 
go  to  show  that  spiritual  Hfe  and  production  are  no 
mere  appendage  to  an  akeady  given  reahty,  but 
that  they  are  themselves  the  makers  of  a  new 
reality.  Their  activity  is  not  limited  to  one  par- 
ticular sphere,  but  seeks  to  embrace  all  that  comes 
in  its  way.  It  is  sensible  of  pain  and  contradiction 
when  sometliing  remains  outside  its  grasp,  un- 
assimilated  and  unintelligible.  In  thought,  no  less 
than  in  action,  we  find  clear  proof  that  the  Spiritual 
Life  does  not  merely  collect  and  accumulate,  but 
imifies  and  transforms ;  that  it  does  not  rest  con- 
tent with  the  given,  but  ever  reaches  beyond  it,  hold- 
ing forth  new  ends  for  our  endeavour.  Thought 
refuses  to  be  a  mere  link  in  the  chain  of  causes  and 
effects  ;  it  steps  outside  the  series,  confronts  it,  and 
seeks  to  unify  it.  Even  when  gauging  the  external 
world,  the  imaginative  flight  of  thought,  piercing  in- 
finity, reaches  beyond  aU  the  bounds  of  sense-percep- 
tion. And  still  more  forcible  and  penetrating  is  its 
analysis  of  the  inner  life,  its  substitution  of  withness 
for  nextness,  its  extension  and  deepening  of  the 
co-operative  principle,  its  insistence,  finally,  on  a 
single  meaning  that  runs  through  aU  things.  And 
similarly  in  regard  to  conduct.  The  Spiritual  Life 
presents  us  here  with  certain  ideals,  holds  before 
us  a  regenerated  world  in  the  light  of  which  it 
passes  judgment  on  things  as  they  are ;  it  seeks 
to  set  the  new  in  the  place  of  the  old,  and  thus 
originates  a  movement  of  immeasurable  significance. 
Now  the  underlying  motive  of  all  these  changes 
is  the  desire  for  a  new  world.  And  the  distinguish- 
ing feature  of  the  new  Order  is  the  endeavour  to 
find  an  inner  unity  in  all  the  manifold  variety  of 


THE   BASIS  OF    RELIGION 

the  world,  to  bring  the  individual  under  the  sway 
of  the  Whole,  to  make  the  idea  and  the  power  of 
the  Whole  the  effective  stimulus  at  every  single 
point.  Thus  the  different  spheres  of  labour  need 
not  wait  for  some  coincidence  of  results  to  unite 
them  :  they  are  linked  from  the  very  start  in 
spiritual  fellowship.  While  each  man  sees  the  world 
in  his  own  way,  and  has  his  own  private  opinions 
and  preferences,  the  world  of  Truth  is  one  and  the 
same  for  us  all,  and  an  advance  made  at  one  par- 
ticular point  has  an  immediate  value  for  all  other 
points  and  for  the  Whole.  Apart  from  such  inward 
community,  how  could  there  be  any  organised 
realm  of  knowledge  ?  And,  similarly,  each  indi- 
vidual has  a  different  idea,  varying  with  his  tem- 
perament and  environment,  of  what  is  most  useful 
for  physical  and  social  self-preservation.  But 
wherever  there  is  any  unfolding  of  Spiritual  Life, 
there  there  is  always  some  Good  sought,  a  Good 
which  is  universally  valid,  makes  a  universal  claim, 
and  is  the  standard  by  which  all  individual  action 
is  judged.  The  True  and  the  Good  soar  above  the 
petty  cliques  of  private  interests  and  opinions  to 
form  one  common  realm  and  bind  humanity  to- 
gether in  a  spiritual  community  of  endeavour. 
The  True  and  the  Good  are  not  mere  means  and 
instruments  of  our  welfare :  to  treat  them  thus 
is  to  destroy  them  at  their  root.  They  are  rather 
the  revealers  of  a  new  and  a  nobler  life,  of  a  new 
world,  participation  in  which  is  the  crucial  mark  of 
distinction  between  man  and  animal,  or  rather 
between  the  spiritual  and  the  animal  in  our  own 
nature — our  unique  position  being,  in  fact,  due 
to  our  participation  as  spiritual  beings  in  this 
8 


THE  SPIRITUAL  LIFE 


higher  life.  In  the  case  of  the  True  and  the  Good, 
our  effort  is  not  concentrated  on  the  external  aspects 
of  things,  nor  does  it  rest  content  with  a  merely 
external  contact.  It  seeks  to  embrace  the  whole 
extent  of  its  object,  to  inform  it,  and  in  so  doing 
to  realise  itself.  Thus  our  thought,  by  reaching 
beyond  our  mere  subjective  states,  seeks  to  com- 
pass what  is  objectively  real  and  adjust  itself  to 
its  demands.  Our  feeling,  again,  through  the 
exaltation  of  life  above  the  natural  level,  can  focus 
itself  within  the  life  of  another,  and,  through 
righteousness  and  love,  realise  the  being  of  another 
as  a  part  of  that  larger  and  richer  life  in  which  we 
and  it  alike  participate.  Everywhere  we  see  the 
same  movement  at  work,  the  same  tendency  to 
break  away  from  the  merely  isolated  point  and 
strive  towards  the  infinite.  Such  a  movement 
does  not  merely  affect  certain  modifications  within 
a  scheme  of  Reality  already  elaborated ;  it 
evolves  from  out  its  own  resources  a  new  Reality, 
an  independent  realm  of  inward  life. 

Now  we  cannot  survey  this  life  in  its  general 
aspect  nor  do  justice  to  its  unique  character  with- 
out raising  at  once  the  question :  whence  comes  it 
and  what  place  does  it  occupy  in  the  whole  scheme 
of  Reality  ?  It  cannot  possibly  be  a  mere  product 
of  human  reflection.  Its  forms  and  powers  are 
far  too  unique  to  be  in  any  way  derivable  from  us. 
Again,  it  conflicts  so  sorely  with  our  natural  in- 
terests, it  demands  from  us  so  much  toil  and  sacri- 
fice, such  a  complete  revolution  of  our  being,  such 
a  shifting  of  our  life-centre,  that  it  is  impossible  to 
think  that  any  natural  impulse  towards  happiness 
would  have  led  us  to  it.    Our  nature,  moreover,  in 


THE  BASIS  OF   RELIGION 

its  present  condition,  is  utterly  inadequate  to  the 
task  of  giving  birth  to  the  spiritual.  It  is  indeed 
directly  oppc^ed  to  the  demands  of  the  Spiritual 
Life.  Where  on  the  one  hand  there  is  dispersion 
into  merely  isolated  points,  on  the  other  there  is 
the  demand  for  an  inner  unity.  In  the  former  case 
there  is  but  a  feeble  stirring  of  the  spiritual  impulse 
in  opposition  to  the  strong  natural  instinct  of  self- 
preservation  ;  in  the  latter  there  is  the  claim  to 
be  the  fount  of  inspiration  and  the  very  main- 
spring of  life.  On  the  one  hand,  life  remains 
sternly  subject  to  the  la\A's  of  time  and  space  ;  on 
the  other,  there  is  a  yearning  for  a  spiritual  and 
eternal  Order,  and  a  reduction  of  all  that  happens 
in  time  and  space  to  a  mere  phenomenal  mani- 
festation of  a  more  essential  truth.  Thus  to  re- 
gard the  Spiritual  Life  as  merely  man's  work  is 
to  destroy  it  at  the  root.  It  cannot  be  understood 
save  as  a  development  of  the  organised  imiverse, 
a  development  which  takes  place  in  man,  com- 
municates itself  to  man,  but  is  never  merely  man's 
production.  The  Spiritual  Life  would  be  wholly 
incomprehensible,  nor  could  it  ever  become  a 
power  in  us,  were  it  not  independent  of  us  in  our 
merely  human  capacity,  if  the  collective  life 
which  it  reveals  were  not  native  to  Reality  itself 
and  possessed  of  its  own  intrinsic  principles  of 
connexion.  If  Reality  were  not  thus  social  in 
structure,  how  could  it  inspire  our  own  movement 
towards  solidarity  ? 

Such  a  view  involves  a  peculiar  relationship  of 
spirit  to  nature.  In  last  resort,  it  must  be  the 
same  life  that  is  active  in  both  domains,  but  in 
the  domain  of  nature  this  life  seems  to  be  dissected 

10 


THE  SPIRITUAL  LIFE 


into  separate  threads,  and  limited  to  their  mutual 
interplay.  It  attains  no  self-immediacy  here, 
nor  has  it  any  substantial  content.  In  the  Spiritual 
Life,  on  the  other  hand,  it  concentrates  into  a 
Whole,  and  does  attain  to  self-immediacy.  Here 
for  the  first  time  Reality  wins  an  inner  unity  and 
a  soul.  Here  there  is  no  dim,  unfathomed  depth 
beyond  the  life  itself,  but  the  life-process  is  now 
the  author  of  being,  and  becomes  the  supporting 
principle  of  a  world  of  reality. 

That  this  independence  of  the  Spiritual  Life 
runs  counter  to  received  ideas  we  are  well  aware, 
but  we  must  insist  on  it  none  the  less  firmly,  for 
it  is  indeed  the  crucial  point  which  determines 
the  right  or  the  wrong  of  all  spiritual  movements. 
For  these  movements,  in  all  their  ramifications, 
make  assertions  which  reach  beyond  the  sphere  of 
our  natural  life.  They  introduce  to  us  a  new  world, 
an  organised  spiritual  realm  which  appears  as 
something  independent  of  human  opinion  and 
inclination,  transcending  the  narrow  limitations 
of  our  specifically  human  condition.  It  may  be 
that  we  are  loth  to  acknowledge  this  Spiritual 
Life  through  fear  of  lapsing  into  metaphysics, 
for  it  is  precisely  the  modern  man,  with  all  his 
vaunted  freedom,  who  is  so  often  the  punctilious 
slave  of  the  superficiality  of  his  age.  But  if  we  do 
refuse  to  acknowledge  it,  and  yet  seek  for  truth, 
seek  to  maintain  any  truth  whatsoever,  then  we 
are  denying  the  very  principle  of  that  which  we 
proceed  to  assert,  nor  can  we  ever  muster  om" 
forces  bravely  and  press  forward  to  victory. 
Here  we  have  the  shibboleth  which  divides  man- 
kind, for  the  ambiguous  answer  which  is  ordinarily 


THE   BASIS  OF   RELIGION 

returned  to  these  questions  Is  being  absolutely 
barred  out  by  the  most  recent  developments  of 
thought.  As  for  him  who  denies  the  Spiritual 
Life  and  its  independence,  he  should  at  least 
know  that  he  is  reducing  everything  outside  the 
limits  of  natural  existence  and  social  convention 
to  a  mere  empty  conceit,  and  that  concepts  such 
as  truth  and  goodness  have  for  him  no  shadow  of 
validity. 

But  what  of  the  man  who  takes  up  the  affirma- 
tive position  and  recognises  in  the  Spiritual  Life 
an  independent  cosmic  power  ?  Has  he  thereby 
proved  the  truth  of  religion  ?  Hardly.  For  the 
mere  existence  of  a  power  superior  to  man  is  a 
very  insufficient  basis  for  religion.  Religion  re- 
quires that  this  power,  in  all  its  fulness,  should  be 
livingly  manifest  in  us,  opposing  the  life  which 
would  otherwise  be  ours ;  and  so  far  we  have 
done  no  more  than  reach  a  starting-point  for  our 
quest.  We  have  but  shown  the  possibility  of  this 
manifestation  :  it  still  remains  to  prove  its  reality, 
and  this  cannot  be  done  otherwise  than  by  show- 
ing that  life  is  actually  progressing  beyond  the 
position  hitherto  considered,  that  this  transcendent 
spiritual  power  is  revealing  itself  as  a  unique 
creative  force  within  our  human  existence,  thus 
lifting  life  on  to  a  higher  plane. 

That  such  is  the  fact  we  again  assert  unhesi- 
tatingly, for  we  see  that  the  Spiritual  Life  does 
not  merely  affect  us  indirectly  through  its  results, 
that  it  does  not  come  to  us  in  fragments  or  claim 
mere  fragments  of  our  being,  but  that  it  transmits 
itself  to  us  in  its  totality,  becomes  wholly  ours, 
and  at  the  same  time  springs  forth  in  us  as  from 
la 


THE  GREAT  RELIGIOUS  FACT 

a  fountain-head :  our  existence  is  completely 
transformed  ;  we  are  lifted  to  the  dignity  of  being 
starting-points  for  a  universal  life  that  is  infinite 
in  character ;  we  become  joint  supporters  of  the 
Spiritual  world,  joint  workers  in  the  establish- 
ment of  a  realm  of  Reason.  Different  epochs 
have  different  ways  of  expressing  this  change. 
The  ancients  spoke  of  an  independent  reason 
in  man ;  the  early  Christians  of  the  price- 
less value  of  each  individual  soul.  In  our 
modern  era  it  is  by  the  value  we  attach  to 
personality  and  spiritual  individuality  that  we 
attest  our  belief  in  man's  intrinsic  independ- 
ence, and  show  that  we  do  not  regard  him 
as  a  mere  link  in  the  chain  of  causes  and  effects. 
It  is,  of  course,  of  the  utmost  importance  to  free 
the  concepts  of  personality  and  individuality 
from  the  vague  ambiguities  which  cling  to  them 
to-day,  causing  us  to  regard  as  a  natural  endow- 
ment that  which  can  be  acquired  only  through 
experience  of  a  world-context.  The  mere  fact  of 
our  life's  manifold  activities  being  grouped  round 
some  centre  does  not  in  itself  take  us  very  far. 
It  may,  indeed,  mean  no  more  than  a  strengthening 
of  our  natural  life,  binding  us  to  it  more  closely 
than  before.  It  becomes  important  only  when 
the  concentration  betrays  the  influence  of  an  in- 
dependent Spiritual  Life  which  admits  man  to 
share  in  its  infinity,  and,  in  the  process  of  revealing 
itself,  enables  him  to  attain  a  newer,  richer,  truer 
personality. 

It  is  only  on  the  basis  of  a  personal  life  so  under- 
stood that  we  can  explain  the  formation  within  us 
of  a  spiritual   individuality   and  appreciate   its 

13 


THE  BASIS  OF  RELIGION 

significance.  Never  could  the  contingent  succes- 
sion of  particulars  which  marks  the  state  of  nature 
claim  to  have  a  value,  and  to  maintain  itself 
against  all  opposition  ;  never  could  such  a  mere 
congeries  of  events  or  experiences  give  birth  to 
an  inner  unity.  Only  when  life  has  been  re- 
fashioned and  has  won  its  independence  does  it 
become  possible  to  strive  after  such  unity.  Then, 
indeed,  the  building  up  of  an  individuality  be- 
comes infinitely  important,  as  a  wonderful  and 
unique  embodiment  of  the  Spiritual  World :  the 
winning  of  an  individuality  is  in  itself  an  extension 
of  the  spiritual  realm.  But  at  the  same  time  per- 
sonality and  individuality,  from  being  so-called 
facts,  become  difficult  problems,  problems  which 
embrace  the  whole  of  life  and  keep  it  incessantly 
active. 

In  the  context  here  indicated  the  movement 
towards  personality  and  individuality  cannot 
possibly  be  interpreted  as  a  withdrawal  from  the 
great  world  to  a  lonely  cell,  as  a  glorying  in  an 
isolated  self-sufficiency.  It  must  rather  mean  the 
winning  of  a  life  spiritual  in  origin,  that  would 
fain  compass  the  whole  infinitude  of  Being,  draw 
the  world  to  itself  and  fashion  it  afresh  from  its 
own  centre.  As  a  spiritual  being,  man  stands 
from  the  outset  in  potential  relation  to  a  world, 
so  that,  in  entering  upon  the  world  and  developing 
its  possibilities,  he  is  in  truth  seeking  to  realise 
his  own  nature,  and  he  resents  as  narrow  and 
petty  all  that  tends  to  imprison  him  within  the 
privacy  of  a  self-centred  existence.  Thus  the 
movement  towards  personality  and  individual- 
ity   is    the   starting-point    for    a   new   brother- 

14 


THE  GREAT  RELIGIOUS  FACT 

hood  of  humanity.  The  upbuilding,  or  it  may  be 
the  maintaining,  of  an  independent  spirituality 
within  the  sphere  of  our  human  life  must  unite 
all  the  separate  units  within  a  single  system.  It  is 
this,  and  this  alone,  that  gives  meaning  and  value 
to  man's  existence  and  the  whole  movement  of  the 
world's  history.  However  much  the  rest  of  life, 
by  virtue  of  its  attractions  and  manifold  oppor- 
tunities, may  pride  itself  on  its  superior  import- 
ance, it  yet  is,  and  must  remain,  a  merely  secondary 
concern,  suppl5dng  only  the  conditioning  environ- 
ment of  the  spiritual  factor  which  is  the  essential 
nucleus.  It  sinks  to  mere  semblance  and  shadow 
when  it  frees  itself  from  this  and  assumes  towards 
it  an  attitude  of  hostility. 

Now  this  new  life  has  the  closest  connexion 
with  religion.  For  the  primal  force  and  inde- 
pendence which  can  face  the  world  and  boldly 
challenge  its  opposition  cannot  proceed  from  the 
mere  individual,  nor  yet  be  a  product  of  the  given 
natural  and  social  order.  The  wholeness  of  a 
man's  life  must  proceed  from  the  wholeness  of 
some  deeper  Life,  and  must  be  constantly  re- 
plenished at  this  source.  Its  presence  attests  the 
invasion  of  our  life  by  a  new  Order  of  reality,  in- 
volving a  breach  in  the  causal  order  of  nature, 
tearing  through  the  existing  system  of  connexions, 
rendering  for  ever  impossible  a  rational  synthesis 
of  reality  within  the  limits  of  sense-experience, 
and  precluding  any  monism  of  the  world  as  we 
find  it.  But  if  reality  is  too  rich  to  be  imprisoned 
in  our  poor  formulae,  if  it  harbours  more  opposi- 
tions than  are  convenient  for  us  to  deal  with,  are 
we  therefore  to  make  things  easier  by  refusing  to 

15 


THE  BASIS  OF   RELIGION 

acknowledge  the  richness  and  the  oppositions  ? 
Are  we  to  be  so  anthropomorphic  as  to  declare 
that  the  true  and  only  possible  constitution  of 
the  universe  is  that  which  accords  best  with  our 
human  notions  ? 

As  we  understand  the  Spiritual  Life,  it  is  not 
this  or  that  feature  of  it  which  assures  us  of  the 
presence  of  a  transcendent  Life  and  unites  us  to 
it,  but  rather  the  totality  of  an  underived  and 
independent  life  within  our  own.  Thus  under- 
stood, religion  is  inseparably  bound  up  with  our 
innermost  nature.  But  this  inner  religious  life 
reveals,  as  it  grows,  an  opposition  peculiar  to 
itself.  In  its  independence  it  is  joyous  and  strong, 
and  can  manifest  itself  at  any  single  point  as  an 
end  in  itself,  conscious  in  virtue  of  its  underived, 
independent  character,  of  being  superior  to  the 
whole  existential  Order,  psychical  as  well  as 
physical.  But  it  does  not  draw  this  power 
from  merely  natural  sources ;  it  possesses  it 
only  as  the  revelation  of  a  world-transcending 
totality  of  life.  It  subsists  through  the  presence 
and  power  of  this  higher  life  ;  it  is  conditioned  by 
it  and  dependent  on  it.  Even  its  self-determining 
activity — nay,  this  above  all  else — appears  as 
something  bestowed  on  it,  as  a  gift  and  grace. 
There  was  therefore  excellent  reason  for  insisting 
that  even  faith — the  act  of  appropriating  the 
new  life,  an  act  which  might  seem  to  be  specifically 
man's  contribution — was  yet  not  really  his  own 
impulse,  but  was  something  given  him,  something 
that  had  to  be  awakened  within  him.  Life  does 
not  present  itself  here  as  a  mere  combination  ot 
the  human  and  the  divine,  as  a  resultant  of  factors 
16 


SPIRITUAL  LEVELS 


separate  in  themselves ;  rather  is  the  highest 
human  attainment  itself  a  manifestation  of  the 
divine.  "  What  have  we  that  we  had  not  re- 
ceived ?  " 

Thus  all  original  Spiritual  Life  springing  up  in 
man  is  connected  in  one  way  or  another  with 
religion.  And  the  more  conscious  it  becomes  of  its 
originality  and  of  its  opposition  to  the  given 
existential  Order,  the  more  is  our  own  temper 
and  conviction  sympathetically  affected.  But 
the  more  determinate  form  which  the  Spiritual 
Life  assumes  is  conditioned  by  the  fact  that  it 
presents  itself  to  us  in  three  stages  :  as  sustaining, 
as  militant,  as  triumphant.  That  an  independent 
spirituality  should  reveal  itself  at  all  in  our  human 
sphere  and  should  reveal  itself  not  merely  in  us, 
but  through  us,  in  clear  distinction  from  merely 
natural  and  social  conditions,  this  in  itself  bespeaks 
a  new  and  imposing  development  which  could 
never  have  been  wrought  by  mere  individual  effort, 
but  can  only  be  explained  as  deep  calling  unto 
deep.  Thus  creative  geniuses  of  every  kind  have 
been  wont  to  feel  themselves  sustained  and  im- 
pelled by  an  unseen  Power,  guided  by  an  inner 
necessity  which,  through  all  the  doubts  and  per- 
plexities of  the  human  instrument,  has  struck  the 
right  path  and  made  the  man  independent  of  his 
whole  surrounding  world.  This  is  why  such  natures 
have  never  been  made  self-conscious  and  arrogant 
by  success.  Rather  has  the  consciousness  that 
they  were  merely  the  vessels  of  a  higher  Power 
filled  them  with  deep  reverence  and  joyous  grati- 
tude. And  this  consciousness  which  we  can  trace 
'so~"clearly  in  the  work  of  our  greatest  is  present 


THE  BASIS  OF   RELIGION 

in  all  real  work,  everywhere  separating  the  truly 
spiritual  from  the  merely  humanistic  culture,  its 
caricature.  When  work  loses  this  sense  of  spiritual 
connexion,  it  loses  at  the  same  time  its  indepen- 
dent standing  over  against  human  likes  and 
fancies ;  it  loses  all  power  to  lift  and  transform 
man's  inward  life,  and  neither  shrewdness  nor 
dexterity  can  save  it  from  sinking  to  a  mere  sham 
and  parody  of  culture. 

But  this  religious  element  that  is  present 
in  all  true  culture  is  at  first  somewhat  latent 
— a  vague  feeling  that  plays  the  part  of  ac- 
companiment. It  may  even  jeopardise  the  ex- 
tent and  reality  of  its  power  by  putting  itself 
forward  too  prominently  and  seeking  to  exert 
too  open  an  influence.  What  first  brings  the 
germ  to  full  development  is  the  struggle  which 
the  new  life  is  compelled  to  wage  when  once 
it  enters  man's  domain.  We  should  not  find  it 
so  new  and  distinctive  in  type  were  it  not  for  its 
sharp  opposition  to  the  ordinary  life  of  conven- 
tion. The  new  life  subsists  in  us  only  through 
ceaseless  conflict.  So  long  as  this  conflict  is 
mainly  directed  outwards,  so  long  as  it  is  con- 
cerned chiefly  with  the  indifference  of  nature,  the 
mystery  of  fate,  the  dull  inertia  of  large  masses  of 
our  population,  there  is  no  necessary  incentive  to 
religious  aspiration :  the  focusing  of  thought  on 
an  indwelling  reason  suffices  here  to  inspire  man 
with  conscious  pride  and  the  power  of  resistance. 
We  see  this  in  the  Stoic  movement,  a  movement 
which  is  constantly  repeating  itself  in  new  guise. 
But  it  is  quite  another  matter  when  man's  inner 
life  begins  to  be  affected,  when  it  is  beset  with 
i8 


SPIRITUAL  CONFLICT 


problems  that  far  exceed  his  power  to  solve  them, 
when  the  movement  of  the  Spiritucil  Life  either 
breaks  on  the  sharp  rocks  of  inner  resistance  or 
collapses  through  its  own  weakness — in  a  word, 
when  the  new  life,  man's  own  soul,  has  to  struggle 
to  maintain  itself  against  that  which  is  weak  and 
base  and  evil  in  his  nature.  Such  a  crisis  must 
end  in  one  of  two  ways.  Either  the  spiritual 
movement  must  suffer  complete  annihilation,  or 
the  connexion  with  and  dependence  on  an  unseen 
world  must  become  a  matter  of  firm  conviction, 
giving  life  a  characteristic  tone  and  temper. 
Religion  now  emerges  from  her  shadowy  back- 
ground into  the  clear  light  of  day. 

When  we  turn  to  history  we  find  the  same  tale 
repeated.  The  perception  and  experience  of  the 
irrationality  of  existence  have  done  far  more 
than  any  demonstration  of  its  reasonableness  to 
win  recognition  for  religion,  though  it  is  true  that 
this  perception  has  been  accompanied  by  a  firm 
belief  in  the  imperishibility  of  man's  spiritual 
essence,  the  impossibility  of  its  total  destruction. 
Pain  and  shock  and  threatened  annihilation  have 
brought  life  to  a  point  of  No-surrender.  From 
the  depths  of  doubt,  where  proof  is  no  longer 
available,  there  has  grown  up  the  axiomatic 
certainty  that  we  are  rooted  in  another  order  of 
things.  Such  crises  have  made  us  feel  that  we 
are  not  here  concerned  with  something  that  we 
can  and  may  give  up  at  our  pleasure,  like  our  own 
comfort  and  subjective  happiness.  We  rather 
feel  that  something  is  asserting  itself  against  us, 
constraining  us  against  our  will,  and  in  the  end 
making  a  convert  of  our  will  and  becoming  the 

19 


THE  BASIS  OF  RELIGION 

very  soul  of  life.  No  one  has  ever  felt  these 
struggles  more  deeply  and  depicted  them  more 
powerfully  than  Augustine.  It  was  just  his  con- 
viction of  the  supremacy  of  a  Divine  Being  that 
made  him  certain  of  the  truth  of  his  own  being. 

When  the  struggle  is  conducted  in  this  spirit, 
not  as  a  private,  personal  matter,  but  as  a  vindica- 
tion  of  spiritual  claims  at  this  or  that  particular 
point,  then  it  outgrows  its  merely  resistant,  de- 
fensive character.  It  becomes  the  medium 
whereby  life  is  deepened,  and  there  arises  out  of 
the  distinctive  experiences  of  its  development,  over 
against  all  the  complications  of  the  world  of 
labour,  a  purely  inward  kingdom  which  becomes 
the  heart  and  inspiration  of  all  reality.  This  in- 
wardness and  its  new  content  cannot,  in  the  light 
of  this  context,  be  reproached  with  mere  subjec- 
tivism ;  for  the  whole  movement  takes  place  not 
outside  Reality,  but  within  it,  seeking  to  find  in 
Reality  its  own  true  nature. 

Thus  a  genuine  Spiritual  Life  makes  its  appear- 
ance among  us,  revealing  itself  in  three  stages — 
as  sustaining,  as  militant,  as  triumphant.  The 
further  the  movement  advances,  the  more  pro- 
nounced does  its  religious  character  become,  and 
the  more  clearly  do  we  trace  the  cementing  and 
uplifting  of  humanity  under  the  influence  of  a 
higher  Power.  But  however  necessary  it  may  be 
to  distinguish  between  these  stages  and  not  to 
impute  the  result  of  the  later  to  the  earlier,  yet, 
with  all  their  diversity,  they  unite  in  the  end  in 
a  single  movement,  and  it  is  the  fact  of  such  con- 
vergency  which  first  gives  to  our  conviction  its 
msiximum  certainty. 


THE  SPIRITUAL  LIFE  IN   MAl^ 

It  still  of  course  remains  true  that  much  in  our 
human  relationships  is  incomplete  and  even  con- 
tradictory. As  the  spiritual  movement  develops, 
the  opposition  to  an  alien  and  hostile  world  in- 
evitably defines  itself  more  sharply,  and  even 
man's  inward  life  is  rent  by  revolt  and  opposition. 
For  all  our  trouble  and  toU,  the  smooth  and  com- 
fortable solution  is  farther  off  than  ever.  But  this 
lack  of  finality,  though  a  prolific  source  of  doubt 
and  anxiety,  cannot  in  any  way  shake  the  funda- 
mental fact.  Indeed,  the  very  tangle,  the  very 
opposition — bitter  and  uncompromising  though  it 
be — only  serves  to  confirm  this  fact  and  bring  it 
home  to  us  more  clearly.  The  task  itself,  with  its 
compelling  power  and  its  fine  superiority  to  all 
natural  and  social  conventions,  is  a  fundamental 
fact  which  we  cannot  gainsay,  and,  in  last  resort, 
cannot  resist.  Of  our  life,  then,  as  a  whole, 
Luther's  description  holds  good  :  "  There  is  no 
finished  achievement ;  all  is  in  the  making.  We 
do  not  see  the  end,  but  only  the  road.  The  full 
splendour  is  not  yet,  but  the  refining  work  goes 
on." 

It  is  in  this  way  that  we  seek  to  ground  religion 
in  the  Spiritual  Life.  With  the  frequent  attempts 
to  give  it  a  psychological  basis  our  method  has 
much  in  common.  It  is  equally  insistent  on 
starting  from  man's  inner  life,  and  refusing  to 
derive  religion  from  an  outside  source,  such  as 
the  constitution  of  the  world  around  us.  But 
within  these  broad  lines  of  similarity  there  are 
vital  differences,  as  our  whole  previous  inquiry 
must  have  shown.  The  psychological  method 
expects  to  reach  its  goal  by  starting  from  imme- 

21 


THE   BASIS  OF  RELIGION 

diate  experience.  The  method  which  we  repre- 
sent— which,  in  opposition  to  the  psychological, 
may  be  called  the  noological — insists  on  an  in- 
version of  reality  as  it  at  first  appears  to  us,  and 
a  complete  recasting  of  life  :  this,  however,  re- 
quires us  to  consider  the  problem  of  the  universe, 
it  demands  a  metaphysic.  It  is  from  no  love  of 
theoretical  subtleties  that  we  take  refuge  in 
metaphysical  theory,  and  hold  fast  by  it  in  oppo- 
sition to  the  main  drift  of  modem  thought.  We 
are  driven  to  it  by  the  necessity  of  spiritual  self- 
preservation.  We  do,  however,  plead  for  freedom 
to  conceive  metaphysics  in  our  own  way,  and  we 
decline  all  responsibility  for  older  conceptions, 
whose  deficiencies  have  furnished  the  opponents 
of  metaphysics  with  an  excuse  for  rejecting  it 
root  and  branch. 

Our  refusal  to  give  religion  a  psychological 
basis  in  no  way  implies  any  undervaluing  of  psycho- 
logy in  the  scientific  treatment  of  religion.  For 
psychology  is  still  left  with  an  important  work  : 
it  has  to  show  the  more  precise  form  which  the 
religious  movement,  whose  essential  concern  is 
with  the  unification  and  regeneration  of  life, 
assumes  in  our  hirnian  experience ;  it  must  show 
how  this  movement  reveals  itself  in  the  individual 
and  under  human  conditions  generally ;  how  it 
links  itself  to  existing  institutions  and  becomes,  in 
fine,  a  power.  The  historical  development  of 
religion  shows  us  in  this  connexion  such  curious 
developments  of  soul-life,  such  remarkable  phases 
and  characteristics,  that  psychology  has  much  to 
do  and  to  achieve,  and,  indeed,  a  special  branch  of 
psychology — the  psychology  of  religion — is  needed 


RELIGION  AND  PSYCHOLOGY 

in  order  to  deal  scientifically  with  the  mass  of 
material  at  our  disposal.  Only  we  must  beware 
of  confounding  the  form  that  religion  takes  among 
men — the  existential  form,  in  a  word — with  its 
originating  ground  or  its  spiritual  substance. 
Otherwise  we  fall  into  the  danger  to  which  modem 
thought  is  so  peculiarly  liable,  which  indeed  largely 
accounts  for  its  lapse  into  natiuralism  or  sub- 
jectivism :  we  mistake  mere  conditions  for  creative 
forces,  and  thus  deprive  Reality  of  its  depth  and 
life  of  its  substance. 

In  religion,  as  in  the  Spiritual  Life  generally, 
we  do  not  start  with  a  ready-made  fact  and 
merely  ask  how  it  is  to  be  interpreted,  but  the 
fact  is  itself  the  main  problem,  and  all  our  concern 
with  it  leads  up  to  this  problem.  Thus  every 
original  attempt  to  find  a  basis  for  religion  pre- 
sents religion  in  a  new  and  original  light :  the 
conflict  that  is  waged  about  the  method  is  also 
waged  about  the  content.  We  cannot  therefore 
seek  to  ground  religion  in  a  Spiritual  Life  recog- 
nised as  independent,  without  at  the  same  time 
demanding  a  religion  of  the  Spiritual  Life,  which, 
in  many  directions,  may  be  clearly  distinguished 
and  defined. 

In  the  first  place,  the  point  of  crucial  import- 
ance for  such  a  religion  is  the  life-process  itself ; 
we  are  urged  to  view  and  value  all  outward  mani- 
foldness  from  the  standpoint  of  inwardness  and 
unity.  This  is  perfectly  consistent  with  the  recog- 
nition that  the  Spiritual  Life  as  present  in  humanity 
needs  to  be  embodied  in  doctrines,  institutions, 
and  so  forth  ;  but  these  ought  not  to  be  the  main 
thing  ;  they  ought  to  be  incessantly  referred  back 
23 


THE  BASIS  OF   RELIGION 

to  the  life  which  is  their  source,  to  be  tested  by 
it  and  transformed  in  accordance  with  its  require- 
ments. Only  so  can  religion  escape  becoming  ex- 
ternalised and  stereotyped.  Again,  a  religion  of 
the  Spiritual  Life  must  insist  upon  a  spiritual 
content :  vague  ideas  and  sentiments  are  not 
enough.  In  particular,  it  must  not  degenerate 
into  a  blind  devotion  which  worships  it  knows 
not  what,  and  thus  is  liable  to  fall  into  the  crassest 
superstition,  and  may  actually  end  by  invoking 
the  help  of  the  Deity  in  the  committal  of  gross 
offences.  Nor  may  religion  be  content  with  her- 
self keeping  passably  free  from  superstition  :  she 
must  fight  it  in  every  walk  of  life,  and  in  this 
matter  Christianity,  in  many  of  its  forms,  has 
failed  to  take  a  sufficiently  decisive  stand. 

But,  most  of  all,  the  religion  of  the  Spiritual 
Life  must  distinguish  itself  from  a  merely  human- 
istic religion.  And  here  we  are  face  to  face  with 
a  peculiar  dilemma  that  at  first  sight  seems  to 
imperil  the  whole  existence  of  religion.  '  If  our 
human  experience  is  to  be  the  basis  of  religion  and 
the  starting-point  of  all  its  developments,  then 
how  can  we  eliminate  the  human  element  ?  How 
can  we  avoid  imputing  to  the  universe  the  forms 
and  processes  of  our  own  life  ?  To  this  extent 
religion  is  bound  to  be  anthropomorphic.  It 
merely  becomes  cold  and  dead  if  in  our  endeavour 
to  avoid  anthropomorphism  we  build  up  a  struc- 
ture out  of  abstract  cosmological  concepts,  such 
as  unity  and  being.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  re- 
ligion may  on  no  account  be  anthropomorphic, 
for  how  could  it  be  a  revealer  of  truth  if  it  sub- 
jected reality  to  the  conditions  of  a  particular 


ANTHROPOMORPHISM 


kind  of  being  ?  How  could  it  rescue  man  from 
his  limitations  as  a  natural  being  if  it  remained 
wholly  within  his  own  sphere  ?  The  dilemma  is 
insoluble  unless  we  recognise  a  twofold  aspect  in 
man,  a  particular  and  a  universal,  a  natural  and 
a  supra-natural ;  and  this  is  a  solution  that  we 
cannot  arrive  at  unless  we  recognise  the  presence 
in  man  of  an  unoriginated  Spiritual  Life.  What 
we  have  to  do  now  is  to  strengthen  the  one  element 
and  subordinate  the  other,  to  comply  with  the 
demand  which  the  whole  history  of  religion  makes 
upon  us.  For  this  history  consists  of  a  gradual  de- 
tachment of  religion  from  the  purely  natural 
propensities,  and  a  strengthening  of  its  spiritual 
import.  But  if  its  aim  was  thus  conceived  in  all 
great  revivals  of  religious  activity,  if  they  were 
dominated  by  the  belief  that  their  business  was 
not  to  foster  and  further  the  interests  of  man  as 
he  is  in  the  world  as  given,  but  rather  to  transform 
him  wholly  by  opening  up  a  new  world,  then 
all  human  conceptions  and  aims  were  bound  to 
prove  unsatisfactory,  and,  however  immediate 
and  certain  the  substance  of  the  new  life  might  be, 
yet  all  closer  apprehension  of  it  on  man's  part 
was  only  picture  and  parable.  But  incontestably 
true  as  is  this  general  idea,  it  has  not  infrequently 
failed  of  fulfilment.  The  conception  of  religion 
has  often  been  such  that  the  human  element  has 
encroached  on  the  divine  and  subordinated  it  to 
human  aims.  We  shall  have  done  something  if, 
through  a  bolder  synthesis  of  the  Spiritual  Life 
and  a  clearer  delimitation  of  its  boundaries,  we 
can  give  this  general  truth  a  better  handle, 
setting  ourselves  to  revise  the  whole  traditional 

25 


THE  BASIS  OF  RELIGION 

status  of  religion  and  to  see  how  much  in  it 
is  merely  man's  work,  how  far  it  evinces  a  readi- 
ness to  indulge  his  natural  wishes  and  inclina- 
tions, to  what  extent  it  is  merely  an  ornamental 
addition  to  our  lives  rather  than  the  establishing 
of  a  new  kingdom.  We  must  insist  more  strongly 
than  ever  that  the  salvation  which  religion  promises 
to  man  is  a  salvation  not  of  his  natural,  but  of  his 
spiritual  self,  that  it  imposes  on  him  a  momentous 
choice,  and  demands  of  him  heavy  sacrifices. 
He  who  minimises  the  opposition  that  is  involved, 
and  obscures  the  tremendous  seriousness  of  the 
issue,  may  easily  let  his  religion,  despite  all 
respect  for  outward  form,  degenerate  into  a  re- 
fined Epicureanism.  Thus  a  searching  critical 
revision  is  demanded,  and  provided  that  the 
criticism  be  based  not  on  external  considerations, 
but  on  the  nature  and  requirements  of  religion 
itself,  it  cannot  be  in  any  sense  destructive. 

Lastly,  we  must  consider  an  objection  which  the 
very  drift  of  our  own  inquiry  appears  to  endorse. 
It  was  only  up  a  thought-ladder  that  we  mounted 
to  a  point  where  the  presence  of  a  whole  new 
world  was  revealed  to  us.  But  does  not  this  make 
the  matter  too  complicated  ?  Does  not  religion, 
as  a  result  of  this  artificial  setting,  lose  that 
spiritual  immediacy  apart  from  which  it  cannot 
accomplish  its  chosen  task  ? 

It  might  very  well  seem  so  to  one  who  should 
regard  immediacy  as  a  simple  conception,  unaware 
of  the  problems  it  involves.  As  a  matter  of  fact, 
it  is  a  conception  which  the  progressive  movement 
of  the  world's  history  has  entirely  revolutionised. 
At  the  outset,  only  that  which  is  palpable  to  the 
26 


PROBLEM  OF  IMMEDIACY 

senses  seems  to  give  us  an  immediate  and  un- 
qualified assurance.  The  primitive  mind  can  never 
be  convinced  that  that  which  can  be  felt  and 
handled  is  not  the  foundation  of  all  certainty. 
But  as  spiritual  progress  is  made,  we  begin  to  see 
that  what  seemed  so  immediate  and  palpable  is 
really  mediated  and  conditioned  by  various 
factors  of  a  psychical  nature,  that  it  is  only  the 
final  result  of  complicated  preliminarj^  processes, 
that  many  problems  lurk  concealed  in  our  ap- 
parently simple  and  stable  environment.  If  our 
sense-life,  however,  become  in  this  way  a  problem 
— a  mere  appearance — the  part  played  by  psy- 
chical factors  must  meet  with  fuller  recognition. 
As  the  movement  progresses,  the  scattered  psy- 
chical experiences  of  the  earlier  stages  are  brought 
to  a  unity,  and  win  a  position  of  control.  It  be- 
comes ever  more  obvious  that  this  unity  consti- 
tutes the  real  tribunal  before  which  all  that  claims 
to  be  true  must  justify  its  pretensions.  Nor  is 
the  movement  confined  to  the  domain  of  know- 
ledge ;  it  extends  over  the  whole  life.  Everywhere 
the  progress  of  culture  is  urging  men  away  from 
a  sense-basis,  and  finding  the  significance  of  the 
sense-life  no  longer  in  its  immediate  appeal  to  the 
senses,  but  in  its  function  as  the  instrument  and 
expression  of  the  soul's  endeavour.  The  more 
independent  life  becomes,  the  more  strong  and  self- 
sufficient  it  grows, the  more  does  its  main  movement 
tend  from  within  outwards,  and  not  from  without 
inwards ;  the  more,  to  use  a  Kantian  metaphor, 
does  the  Copernican  standpoint  replace  the 
Ptolemaic.  At  the  same  time,  the  Unseen  replaces 
the  Seen  as  the  true  centre  of  immediacy.  Our 
27 


THE  BASIS  OF   RELIGION 

own  inward  life  now  becomes  the  most  intimate 
and  certain  of  realities,  more  particularly  when 
it  unites  its  activities  together  into  an  organised 
movement,  such  as  the  recognition  of  the  Spiritual 
Life  would  necessitate.  This  inversion  of  the 
centre  of  immediacy  must  be  to  the  advantage  of 
religion.  When  the  immediacy  of  the  Spiritual 
Life  counts  as  the  most  intimate  and  certain  of 
realities,  there  the  immediacy  and  certainty  of 
religion  are  put  beyond  all  possibility  of  doubt. 
For,  as  we  saw,  religion  is  not  a  supplementary 
adjunct  to  the  Spiritual  Life,  but  is  essential  and 
native  to  it ;  nay,  more,  it  is  the  fundamental  con- 
dition under  which  alone  the  Spiritual  Life  can  real- 
ise itself  within  human  experience.  As  certain  as 
is  the  existence  of  an  independent  Spiritual  Life 
defining  itself  in  opposition  to  our  merely  natural 
self,  so  certain  is  also  the  truth  of  religion.  But 
such  independence  is  essential  to  the  existence  of 
all  that  we  seek  and  value,  honour  and  esteem ; 
without  it  there  is  neither  science  nor  morality, 
and  terms  such  as  personality  and  individuality 
become  mere  empty  words.  Give  up  the  whole, 
and  we  must  give  up  the  truth  of  the  part.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  more  closely  any  part  be 
linked  to  the  whole  of  life,  the  more  will  it  share 
in  the  immediate  certainty  of  the  whole. 

And  since  we  have  found  that  religion  is  linked 
thus  closely  with  the  whole,  we  need  not  make 
any  timid  compromise  with  certain  superficial  con- 
temporary movements,  and  content  ourselves  with 
a  lower  degree  of  certainty,  saying,  for  instance, 
that  we  can  never  altogether  eliminate  the  sub- 
jective element,  and  that  religious  truths  can 
28 


PERSONAL  TRUTH   FUNDAMENTAL 

never  have  the  certainty  of  such  formulae  as 
2x2=4.  On  the  contrary,  we  maintain  that 
it  is  a  very  poor  conception  of  religion  which 
deems  any  certainty  superior  to  hers,  and  does 
not  claim  for  her  truth  a  far  more  primary  cer- 
tainty than  that  of  the  formula  2x2=4. 
Only  a  shallow  and  perverse  conception  of  truth 
can  allow  the  certainty  of  the  part  to  exceed  the 
certainty  of  the  whole.  For  all  single  truths  pre- 
suppose a  whole  of  truth,  a  kingdom  of  truth  :  if 
they  be  not  founded  in  this  they  are  nothing  more 
than  mere  conjunctions  of  ideas,  which  might  be 
other  than  they  are,  and  perhaps  are  other  for 
other  minds.  The  fount  of  certainty  is  in  last 
resort  the  whole,  and  thence  alone  can  such  cer- 
tainty be  transmitted  to  the  parts. 

What  gives  to  the  opposite  contention  a  certain 
plausibility — though  nothing  more  than  plausi- 
bility— is  the  fact  that  there  are  impersonal,  as  dis- 
tinguished from  personal  truths.  There  are  truths 
which  do  allow  us  to  combine  different  factors  and 
arrive  at  certain  judgments  without  referring  back 
to  the  life-process  as  a  whole  ;  there  are  others 
which  presuppose  such  a  Whole,  and  therewith 
demand  a  co-operation  of  the  individual's  inner 
life  :  these  are  personal  truths,  but  they  are  by 
no  means  merely  subjective.  For  the  movement 
that  transpires  in  the  individual  does  not  belong 
to  the  individual,  but  to  the  Spiritual  Life  itself ; 
hence  it  is  not  adjacent  to  Reality,  but  within  it. 
Truth  as  a  whole  is  in  this  sense  entirely  personal 
in  character,  it  involves  the  assertion  of  an  inde- 
pendent kingdom  over  against  all  human  likes 
and  fancies.  There  is  a  wholeness  of  conviction  ia 
29 


THE  BASIS  OF   RELIGION 

it ;  it  cannot  be  imposed  on  anyone  ;  it  can  only 
spring  from  the  individual's  own  experience  and 
decision.  Apart  from  this  fundamental,  personal 
truth,  even  that  which  is  called  impersonal  loses 
its  truth-character.  Thus  the  fact  that  religious 
truth  is  personal,  i.e.  that  it  demands  a  mobilising 
of  the  energies  of  the  individual  life,  in  no  wise 
detracts  from  the  certainty  of  religion.  Though 
religious  conflicts  among  men  may  still  continue — 
so  great  is  the  diversity  of  their  views — yet  he 
who  recognises  a  Spiritual  Life  above  all  dissen- 
sions and  differences  of  opinion  will  never  be 
dismayed  by  the  conflict.  It  will  rather  strengthen 
his  conviction  that  genuine  truth  cannot  be 
presented  or  imposed  on  us  from  \\ithout,  but  is  in 
last  resort  an  action  of  our  innermost  nature,  an 
expression  of  Freedom. 


30 


II 

RELIGION  AND  HISTORY 

THERE  is  nothing  so  characteristic  of  the 
nineteenth  century  as  the  development  of 
the  historical  temper  and  method.  If  the  eighteenth 
century  was  the  age  of  Philosophy,  the  nineteenth 
might  fitly  be  called  the  age  of  History.  It  has 
revolutionised  our  relation  to  Reality  and  radi- 
cally changed  the  method  of  our  work,  for  it  has 
grasped  the  fact  that  the  present  existential  order 
is  the  result  of  a  long  and  slow  development,  and 
has  taught  us  to  appreciate  the  present  as  a  link 
in  a  continuous  chain.  The  historical  temper 
won  its  first  victories  in  the  domain  of  the  Spiritual 
Life.  It  is  not  natural  science  that  has  introduced 
it  into  philosophy,  but  rather  philosophy  that 
has  introduced  it  into  natural  science.  Natural 
science,  however,  has  linked  it  more  closely  with 
actual  experience,  and  thus  made  it  more  intimate 
and  invasive,  securing,  indeed,  its  dominance  in 
every  department  of  life.  This  triumph  of  the 
historical  idea  involved  drastic  changes  in  our 
view  of  life  and  thought  and  action ;  but  these 
changes,  upsetting  though  they  were,  yet  seemed, 
in  their  influence  on  the  strength  and  truth 
of    the    whole    modern     position,    to    be    pure, 

31 


RELIGION  AND  HISTORY 

unadulterated  gain.  For  what  have  we  been 
given  ?  A  broader  basis,  more  vigour  of  move- 
ment, an  exhaustless  profusion  of  individual  con- 
structions ;  in  addition,  a  clearer  insight,  a  more 
balanced  judgment,  a  closer  interlinking  of  all 
the  constituent  elements  of  existence  ;  finally,  an 
incentive  to  follow  up  for  ourselves  the  clue  that 
has  been  transmitted  to  us,  a  call  to  co-operate 
actively  in  the  great  work  of  the  universe.  All 
this,  it  appeared,  lent  the  new  way  of  thought  an 
incontestable  superiority  over  the  old. 

Even  religion  cannot  escape  the  influence  of  so 
deep-reaching  a  change.  Religion,  too,  must 
make  room  for  the  new  idea,  and  find  in  Becoming 
a  clue  to  the  knowledge  of  Being.  But  in  the  case 
of  religion,  and  especially  in  the  case  of  Chris- 
tianity, the  collision  between  Old  and  New  is 
especially  violent,  since  the  older  outlook  embodies 
a  treatment  of  history  which  has  gradually  grown 
to  be  part  of  its  very  nature,  and  differs  in  toto 
from  the  newer  method.  It  represents  religion 
as  coming  to  us  from  a  lofty  peak  that  towers 
high  above  our  capacity  and  our  performance,  a 
peak  to  which  for  all  time  we  must  turn  our  gaze 
in  boundless  veneration,  seeking  guidance  from 
it  for  our  own  journey.  This  inaccessible  summit 
has  been  brought  right  down  into  our  human  lives 
by  one  marvellous  deed,  a  self-revelation  of  God, 
and  thus  no  change  of  human  condition  can  affect 
it  in  the  least.  Our  main  task  must  ever  be  to 
keep  in  its  pristine,  uncontaminated  form  what 
was  gained  at  this  high-water  mark  of  our  history, 
and  pass  it  on  intact  to  all  succeeding  generations. 
Thus  was  oiu:  g^ze  turned  ever  on  the  past,,  and 

3j» 


OLDER  VIEW  OF  HISTORY 

even  the  remotest  future  held  in  these  matters 
no  prospect  of  a  change. 

Now  this  whole  system  of  belief  has  been  shaken 
to  its  foundations  by  the  development  of  the  new 
historical  method,  which  has  probed  all  the  deeper 
for  the  fact  that  it  has  usually  worked  slowly  and 
from  within  outwards.  It  has  been  the  aim  of  the 
method  to  link  the  world's  work  more  closely 
with  the  solitary  splendour  that  so  towers  above 
it,  to  explore  the  surroundings  of  the  summit, 
discover  lines  of  connexion,  and  so  narrow  more 
and  more  effectively  the  zone  of  separation.  In 
the  end,  even  where  the  Supreme  still  maintains 
its  pre-eminence,  it  comes  to  be  regarded  as  the 
culmination  of  a  wider  movement,  and,  precisely 
for  this  reason,  as  part  of  a  larger  whole ;  only 
in  the  context  of  the  whole  can  it  fully  unfold  its 
nature.  When  we  cease  to  look  solely  at  this  one 
Supreme  Point  and  extend  our  observations  over 
the  whole  field  of  history,  w^e  inevitably  come  to 
alter  our  conception  of  the  forces  that  are  operative. 
The  sharp  antithesis  between  human  and  divine 
gradually  disappears.  Man  is  summoned  to  do 
his  part  in  the  work,  and  is  exalted  in  the  doing 
of  it,  provided  he  discerns  in  what  he  does  some 
element  of  eternal  truth.  The  Divine,  on  the 
other  hand,  becomes  spiritually  nearer  and  more 
intimate.  We  would  thus  seem  to  have  secured 
more  inward  unity  for  life,  and  a  broader  basis 
for  religion. 

And  if  the  new  method,  as  applied  to  a  single 
religion,  impels  us  to  attach  a  greater  importance 
to  the  influence  of  varying  time-conditions,  so  is 
it  also  with  the  relations  of  one  religion  to  another. 

D  33 


RELIGION  AND  HISTORY 

Where  all  multiplicity  has  behind  it  the  unity  of 
one  unbroken  movement  in  the  light  of  which  it 
seeks  to  be  understood,  then  our  judgment  can- 
not be  sharply  alternative,  taking  the  form  of  an 
Either — Or.  We  are  rather  bound  to  expect  that 
every  variety  of  religion  will  possess  some  element 
of  reason,  and  the  rigour  of  an  absolute  point  of 
view  yields  to  the  leniency  of  a  more  relative  out- 
look. It  becomes  the  practice  to  regard  all  re- 
ligions as  diverging  streams  of  a  common  move- 
ment, not  all  possessed  of  equal  value,  while  yet 
none  is  destitute  of  all  value.  Hence  a  more 
liberal  and  open-minded  attitude  towards  the 
rich  diversity  of  historical  types,  a  more  friendly 
interchange  between  one  type  and  another, 
greater  plasticity  in  our  way  of  viewing  and  hand- 
ling the  material. 

Nor  is  the  influence  of  the  historical  temper 
apparent  only  in  the  arrangement  of  material :  it 
affects  also  the  material,  the  facts  themselves, 
and  this  chiefly  through  the  development  and 
application  of  historical  criticism.  It  is  only  the 
modem  consciousness  that  has  fully  realised  the 
extent  to  which  our  own  subjective  condition 
influences  our  conception  of  the  environment,  and 
especially  of  the  past,  the  way  in  which  we  build 
up  our  world  through  our  own  ideas  and  opinions, 
our  feelings  and  strivings,  our  wishes  and  our 
expectations.  From  our  first  acceptance  of  a  fact 
through  all  our  subsequent  acquaintance  with  it. 
our  own  subjectivity  is  ever  busy  exercising  its 
transforming  influence.  All  historical  tradition 
must  thus  be  subjected  to  the  keenest  scrutiny, 
but  there  is  a  quite  unique  interest  in  the  applica- 

34 


HISTORICAL  CRITICISM 

tion  of  such  scrutiny  to  the  fundamental  historical 
facts  of  religion.  In  a  sphere  where  the  soul  has 
been  stirred  to  a  passionate  storm  of  hope  and 
longing,  and  the  wishes  of  the  heart  have  crystal- 
lised into  definite  shape,  where  the  total  impression 
has  been  so  strong  as  to  militate  against  any  sober 
weighing  of  individual  points  of  detail,  should  we 
not  naturally  expect  that  historical  criticism  would 
have  to  do  more  than  the  usual  amount  of  order- 
ing and  readjustment  ?  And  the  expectation  has 
been  justified.  We  have  had  to  give  up  much 
that  we  held  dear  :  our  store  of  assured  truths 
has  suffered  serious  diminution.  By  way  of  com- 
pensation we  can  indeed  feel  greater  pleasure  in 
that  which  we  still  keep,  since  we  can  be  confident 
in  the  justice  of  its  claims.  It  is,  moreover,  a 
great  victory  for  clearness,  and  truth  when  those 
ideal  Forms  which  absorb  life's  interest  step  forth 
in  clear  outline  from  the  veil  of  mist  in  which  an 
old  tradition  had  enshrouded  them. 

All  this  might  at  first  sight  seem  pure  gain. 
And,  indeed,  it  is,  so  long  as  we  are  dealing  merely 
with  science.  There  can  be  no  question  as  to  the 
improvement  in  our  processes  of  clarifying  and 
systematising  our  material.  But  it  is  a  question 
whether  the  gain  for  science  is  immediately  also  a 
gain  for  religion,  whether  the  interests  of  the  two 
are  not  in  direct  antagonism.  Science  seeks  to 
arrange  all  manifoldness  in  one  unbroken  system  : 
religion  is  impossible  without  a  contrast,  a  clear 
discrimination  of  the  Divine  from  the  human.  It 
demands  sublimity  and  its  counterpart,  reverence  ; 
but  the  world  of  the  exact  sciences  can  find  no 
room  for  such  conceptions.     Thus,  in  particular, 

35 


RELIGION  AND  HISTORY 

the  historical  view,  by  the  clear  light  it  throws 
on  persons  and  events,  seems  to  destroy  precisely 
that  element  in  them  which  made  them  the  objects 
of  religious  veneration — the  element  of  unique- 
ness, transcendence,  miracle.  With  good  reason 
did  our  greatest  poet  call  miracle  the  dearest  child 
of  faith.  A  religion  entirely  devoid  of  it  is  a  self- 
contradiction.  The  only  question  is  what  we  are 
to  understand  by  it.  But  exact  science  refuses  to 
tolerate  it  in  any  sense  whatever. 

The  progress  and  success  of  historical  criti- 
cism sets  the  problem  before  us  in  a  very  clear 
light.  This  criticism,  by  a  laborious  mastering  of 
detail,  has  at  length  effected  a  revolution  in  the 
whole  position.  The  older  faith  made  a  sharp 
distinction  of  sacred  history  from  profane,  sepa- 
rating the  sanctuary  from  the  stir  of  the  market- 
place. That  within  the  sacred  precincts  action 
should  take  a  different  line,  and  a  supramundane 
Order  reveal  itself  in  the  working  of  miracles, 
could  scarcely  excite  surprise.  Things  here  were 
on  a  larger  scale,  the  oppositions  were  sharper, 
the  character  of  the  action  more  definite  and  de- 
cisive. The  more  than  earthly  majesty  with  which 
faith  had  clothed  this  sphere  was  believed  to  be 
matter  of  immediate  perception.  In  the  radiance 
that  streamed  from  it,  any  analysis  of  the  total 
impression  or  critical  estimate  of  varying  accounts 
was  quite  impossible.  Thus  gaps  in  the  tradition, 
inconsistencies  and  contradictions  were  never 
noticed.  In  its  unbroken  unity  it  appealed  to 
man's  inner  nature  as  whole  to  whole. 

Then  came  historical  criticism,  and  claimed  this 
sphere  also.     The  mere  fact  that  such  criticism 

36 


ITS  DESTRUCTIVE  INFLUENCE 

pursued,  as  a  matter  of  course,  precisely  the  same 
procedure  here  as  in  every  other  department  of 
history,  militated  against  the  separation  of  sacred 
and  profane  which  had  hitherto  prevailed  :  it  put 
them  both  on  the  same  level,  treated  each  as 
part  of  a  greater  whole.  Every  advance  in  the 
work  went  to  dim  the  brightness  of  the  halo  that 
had  hitherto  surrounded  the  persons  and  events 
of  sacred  history,  and  the  clear  light  of  day  showed, 
in  many  respects,  a  different  picture  from  that 
which  we  had  before  imagined.  We  can  no  longer 
deny  that  there  is  but  scanty  confirmation  for 
many  a  story  that  once  we  confidently  believed, 
that  there  are  often  grave  discrepancies  and  even 
contradictions  in  different  accounts  and  versions, 
and  this  not  only  in  matters  of  detail,  but  in 
matters  of  main  importance.  And  even  when  in 
the  end  we  find  again  what  once  we  accepted  with 
such  confidence,  yet  it  is  not  the  same  thing.  For 
the  facts  have  lost  that  immediacy  and  self- 
convincingness  which  are  necessary  to  make  them 
fully  effective.  The  very  fact  that  a  thing  is  made 
to  depend  upon  a  complicated  process  of  reason- 
ing, that  we  have  to  settle  many  doubts  and 
difficulties  before  we  can  again  accept  it,  makes  it 
something  different  from  what  it  was  before  ;  and 
though  we  may  understand  it  better,  the  old 
intimacy  of  relation  is  destroyed. 

We  must  remember  also  that,  in  matters  of  his- 
tory, to  see  a  thing  more  exactly  is  to  distinguish 
it  from  ourselves,  and  thereby  to  weaken,  if  not 
totally  to  preclude,  its  immediate  influence  on 
our  life.  The  Here  and  the  Beyond  are  no  longer 
included  within  one  common  tract  of  existence, 

37 


RELIGION  AND  HISTORY 

but  they  part  asunder.  We  can  no  longer  see  the 
one  in  the  light  of  the  other,  no  longer  let  the 
Beyond  fuse  with  our  own  life,  or  unhesitatingly 
transfer  to  it  our  own  peculiarities,  as  we  once  did. 
How  ingenuously  did  the  Renaissance  artists, 
and  also  the  Dutch  School,  fashion  and  clothe 
their  saints  in  the  garb  of  their  own  age,  thus 
bringing  them  right  into  their  own  lives !  A 
similar  attempt  is  being  made  to-day  in  all 
honesty  of  intention,  but  it  will  no  longer 
succeed,  since  there  is  lack  of  that  assured  faith 
which  brings  the  Divine  down  into  the  human, 
and  lifts  the  human  up  to  the  Divine.  We  need 
something  eternal  to  bind  different  ages  together, 
but  this  eternal  has  grown  dim  amid  our  doubts 
and  struggles.  If,  however,  in  sacred  no  less  than 
in  profane  history,  we  are  concerned  only  with 
the  human,  then  we  cannot  put  aside  the  question 
whether  time-events,  that  are  outwardly  so  re- 
mote from  us,  can  yet  profoundly  move  our  inner 
life,  and  help  us  in  any  really  essential  way; 
whether  indeed  they  must  not  renounce  their 
religious  significance. 

Still  more  serious  is  the  danger  which  threatens 
religion  from  the  attempt  to  bring  all  the  facts  of 
life  within  the  sweep  of  a  single  movement.  We 
saw  that  the  new  thought  tended  to  bring  human 
and  Divine  into  closer  contact :  it  is  a  natural 
development  of  this  tendency  that  the  human 
should  claim  for  itself  what  had  previously  seemed 
to  be  a  function  of  the  Divine,  and  that  at  the 
same  time  religion  should  become  merely  a  part 
of  a  more  general  civilising  movement,  and  should 
lose  that  transcendent  quality  which  alone  made 

38 


POSITIVIST  VIEW  OF  RELIGION 

it  immune  from  the  changes  and  fashions  of 
civilisation.  The  first  result  of  this  new  tendency 
is  to  create  serious  difficulties  round  the  Absolute- 
ness that  is  so  essential  to  the  truth  of  religion ; 
the  eternal  is  made  ever  more  subject  to  the 
temporal,  and  in  the  end  is  absorbed  by  it  alto- 
gether. The  process  runs  through  several  phases, 
but  so  long  as  there  is  no  victorious  reaction  the 
final  dissolution  is  inevitable.  The  first  step  is  to 
say  that  religion  in  every  age,  if  it  would  effectively 
influence  that  age,  must  present  truth  in  a  form 
that  is  appropriate  to  it.  This  is  a  requirement 
that  in  itself  is  perfectly  just,  though  there  is  a 
certain  danger  in  it  so  long  as  the  boundary  be- 
tween what  religion  asserts  and  what  the  age 
demands  is  not  more  closely  defined-  The  re- 
quirement, however,  does  not  stop  at  this.  We 
are  asked  to  believe  that  religion  in  general 
must  correspond  to  the  condition  of  the  age,  that 
it  must  spring  from  the  movement  of  the  age. 
If  it  is  to  be  a  motive-force  in  our  life,  then  it  must 
take  its  form  not  from  a  dead  past,  but  from  a 
living  present.  But  one  age  passes  into  another, 
and  requirements  change.  Much  that  was  vener- 
ated in  earlier  times  degenerated  at  a  later  date 
into  sheer  superstition.  Who  will  guarantee  that 
our  own  convictions  shall  not  some  day  share  the 
same  fate  ?  Moreover,  how  could  religion  work 
vigorously  to  counteract  the  tendencies  of  the 
very  age  that  produced  it  ?  If  we  give  up  an 
eternal  truth,  do  we  not  also  renounce  our  belief 
in  religion  as  a  directing  and  controlling  power  ? 

Thus  in  the  complete  assimilation  of  religion  to 
its  Age  there  is  danger  lest  it  become  a  mere 

39 


RELIGION  AND  HISTORY 

shadowy  semblance.  And  even  the  right  to  this 
modicum  of  existence  is  not  uncontested.  The 
advance  of  the  historical  method,  with  the  rela- 
tivity it  implies,  ends  by  forcing  on  us  the  ques- 
tion whether  religion  as  a  whole  is  not  just  a  tran- 
sitory phenomenon,  a  "  historical  category,"  a 
phase  in  man's  development  necessary  to  the 
history  of  mankind,  but  now  at  last  outworn. 
Positivism  has  formulated  this  view  more  pre- 
cisely. It  regards  religion  as  an  anthropomorphic 
interpretation  of  the  universe,  justified  at  the 
outset  by  the  necessity  of  securing  some  initial 
movement  of  spiritual  life.  Little  by  little,  how- 
ever, it  has  been  forced  to  make  way  for  a  scientific, 
objective,  positivistic  mode  of  thought,  whose 
complete  victory  no  one  can  for  a  moment  doubt. 
Thus  the  religion  that  we  still  have  to-day  is  only 
a  survival  from  a  remote  past ;  no  wonder  that 
it  strikes  us  as  foreign.  So  reasons  Positivism. 
And  though  the  reasoning  belongs  primarily  to  a 
particular  school,  yet  it  has  a  far-reaching  in- 
fluence on  the  common  life  outside.  The  partial 
recognition  here  accorded  to  religion  is  far  more 
dangerous  to  it  than  the  open  attacks  of  the 
eighteenth  century,  which  set  it  down  straight 
away  as  a  mere  device  of  sly  magicians  and  de- 
ceiving priests. 

Thus,  from  the  historical  point  of  view,  religion 
seems  doomed.  It  is  not  easy  to  see  at  once  how 
any  check  can  be  set  to  the  stream  of  Becoming, 
which  seems  to  absorb  religion  into  its  own  dis- 
solving tide.  But  the  enemy  of  religion  would  be 
triumphing  too  soon  were  he  to  believe  that  he 
had  finally  settled  with  her,  and  that  she  had 


MERE   BECOMING 


vanished  into  thin  air,  while  he  could  point  in 
contrast  to  a  solid  and  unassailable  residuum  of 
culture.  For  we  only  need  to  look  a  little  further, 
to  probe  a  little  deeper,  in  order  to  see  that  the 
upheaval  wrought  by  thinking  exclusively  in  terms 
of  mere  time  does  not  affect  religion  only,  but  the 
whole  of  life,  and  even  undermines  the  very 
foundations  of  science  in  which  we  placed  such 
implicit  trust. 

The  transformation  of  all  Reality  into  a  stream 
of  Becoming — provided  we  follow  it  up  to  the 
bitter  end,  and  do  not  stop  arbitrarily  in  the 
middle — destroys  all  truth  and  empties  life  of 
all  its  content.  Reality  itself  seems  nothing 
more  than  an  ephemeral  world  of  shadows. 
Truth,  in  any  and  every  meaning  of  the  word, 
is  possible  only  in  contradistinction  to  the 
limitations  and  fluctuations  of  time.  If  we 
have  nothing  that  we  can  oppose  to  time,  then 
man  and  man's  opinions  are  the  sole  arbiter  of 
what  we  are  to  look  upon  as  good  and  true.  There 
is  no  longer  any  standard  which  will  afford  a 
measure  of  his  capacity  and  act  as  a  check  on 
arbitrary  caprice.  Thus  all  the  solid  consistency 
of  things  is  broken  up,  and  every  fresh  step  in  the 
disintegrating  process  means  a  further  dissolution 
of  the  time-stream  into  mere  momentary  incidents, 
a  further  reduction  of  the  truth  of  time  into  a 
passing  opinion  of  the  hour.  Has  not  the  nine- 
teenth century  had  a  sufficiently  trying  experience 
of  swift  reactions  in  taste  and  temper  ?  We  need 
only  look  at  the  history  of  Art  to  see  how 
hurriedly  one  wave  of  fashion  has  followed  another, 
how  quickly  acclamation  has  passed  into  denuncia- 

41 


RELIGION  AND  HISTORY 

tion,  and  how  that  which  was  thought  to  be  lifting 
us  to  new  heights  has  shortly  afterwards  been 
labelled  as  folly  and  delusion.  The  individual 
fails  to  realise  the  dubiousness  of  these  changes, 
because  he  thinks  only  of  himself  and  of  the 
moment.  It  is  just  at  his  particular  point  that 
he  believes  full  truth  to  be  attained.  What  passes 
at  the  moment  for  "  modern  "  is  incomparably 
superior  to  all  else.  But  let  him  think  on  a  little  ; 
let  him  reflect  that  what  he  respects  to-day  as 
modem  will  soon  become  outworn  and  obsolete, 
that  its  successor  will  share  the  very  same 
fate,  and  so  on  and  so  on,  without  any  solid 
and  lasting  result  accruing  from  all  the  endless 
toil.  Must  we  not  then  conclude  that  all  our  work 
is  vain,  and  would  not  this  conviction  of  futility 
arrest  every  vital  impulse,  and  put  an  end  to  all  joy 
in  active  creative  effort  ?  Moreover,  what  do  we 
make,  on  this  view,  of  reality  as  a  whole  ?  It  be- 
comes a  mere  change  from  one  state  to  another,  an 
ebb  and  flow,  a  kindling  and  extinction ;  there  is  no 
continuance,  no  meaning,  no  profit  in  it  all.  The 
transformation  of  reality  into  a  mere  flight  of 
momentary  presentations  makes  it  into  something 
ghostlike,  a  thing  half-way  between  being  and  not- 
being.  Everything  is  strung  on  the  slender  thread 
of  becoming,  and  if  anjiihing  falls  from  it,  it  falls 
into  the  abyss  of  nothingness  which  swallows  up 
all  that  is  best  and  most  ideal  in  human  nature. 
Here,  then,  we  have  no  true  life,  but  only  the  will 
to  live,  a  longing  and  grasping  after  a  life  that 
yet  can  never  be  attained.  The  futility  of  a  life 
like  this — a  life  entirely  adrift  on  the  stream  of 
Becoming — has  never  been  felt  more  keenly  than 


NATURE  AND  SPIRIT 


by  the  Hindus.  They  imagined  the  spirits  of 
their  dead  calling  to  the  living  :  "  We  were  what 
you  are ;  you  will  be  what  we  are."  But  are  not 
we  ourselves  more  conscious  every  day  of  the 
inward  contradiction,  the  nothingness,  of  a  life 
such  as  this  ?  Amid  all  our  dazzling  outward 
successes,  should  we  have  so  little  joyousness  at 
heart,  if  we  had  not  begun  to  feel  confused  as  to 
the  meaning  of  the  Whole,  if  amid  all  the  stir  and 
bustle  we  were  not  painfully  aware  that  we  had 
no  firm  anchorage,  no  steadfast  truth  ? 

But  the  very  fact  that  we  perceive  our  want 
goes  to  prove  that  we  are  not  altogether  merged  in 
the  stream,  that  we  do  not  live  only  in  the  present. 
If  there  were  not  something  in  us  continually 
forcing  us  to  look  beyond  the  fleeting  moment 
and  seek  something  more  than  its  satisfaction, 
if  we  were  like  mere  insects  of  a  day,  we  could  not 
be  conscious  of  any  discomfort.  But  that  the 
longing  for  something  permanent — nay,  eternal — 
is  more  than  a  vague  mood,  and  can  translate 
itself  into  deed  and  achievement,  is  made  par- 
ticularly clear  by  precisely  that  branch  of  know- 
ledge which  might  at  first  sight  seem  to  dis- 
countenance all  permanence — that  is,  by  history 
itself,  history  understood  as  a  distinctively  human 
movement,  and  properly  distinguished  from  his- 
tory in  the  wider  sense.  If  historical  method  has 
of  late,  especially  under  the  influence  of  the  doc- 
trine of  development,  added  nature  to  its  other 
fields  of  study,  this  should  not  blind  us  to  the  fact 
that  the  story  of  Nature  and  the  story  of  Spirit 
are  fundamentally  different  in  kind.  In  the  ex- 
ternal world  we  witness  the  gradual  and  the  age- 

43 


RELIGION  AND  HISTORY 

long  accumulation  of  effects  ;  the  great  is  simply 
the  aggregate  of  innumerable  smsdl  increments ; 
the  combination  and  interaction  of  forces  result 
in  the  formation  of  highly  complicated  and 
differentiated  structures.  Modern  Geology  illus- 
trates this  very  clearly.  There  is  a  long  past  be- 
hind us,  and  only  by  rehearsing  all  its  successive 
stages  can  we  gain  clear  insight  into  the  meaning 
of  the  present.  But  Nature  has  not  herself  ex- 
perienced this  whole  series  of  events  ;  she  has  not 
transmuted  this  manifoldness  into  a  personal  life. 
One  thing  has  followed  on  another,  but  the  con- 
nexions have  always  been  purely  external. 

Quite  otherwise  is  it  in  the  case  of  man,  in  so 
far  at  least  as  he  ceases  to  be  purely  natural,  and 
builds  up  over  against  Nature  a  world  of  Culture. 
For  all  culture  implies  an  endeavour  to  prevent 
certain  events,  deeds,  and  personalities  from 
drifting  into  gradual  oblivion,  an  endeavour  to 
keep  them  ever  present  and  living  by  dint  of  some 
personal  exertion.  There  is  no  culture  which  does 
not  call  upon  us  to  take  up  the  challenge  that  is 
thrown  down  by  Time,  the  great  destroyer.  At 
first  our  effort  may  be  limited  to  simply  handing 
down  certain  noteworthy  occurrences,  but  soon 
the  achievements  of  our  inward  life — Religion, 
Law,  and  so  forth — become  confirmed  in  custom, 
and  thus  a  bond  is  established  between  different 
epochs.  Less  and  less  does  life  depend  for  sus- 
tenance on  the  passing  moment.  To  an  ever 
greater  extent  the  present  assimilates  the  past, 
and  can  no  longer  remain  subject  to  the  changing 
wishes  and  caprices  of  a  day. 

The  full  significance  of  this  treatment  of  history 

44 


NATURE  AND  SPIRIT 


from  the  distinctively  human  standpoint  is  first 
seen  when  we  detach  ourselves  from  the  contem- 
plation of  one  particular  people,  and  look  abroad 
over  the  whole  range  of  human  kind.  It  then 
becomes  very  clear  that  men  are  bound  together 
by  an  inner  fellowship  far  more  than  they  are  by 
any  nearness  of  outside  contact,  and  that  here, 
despite  all  fluctuations,  there  is  something  that 
abides.  Enigmatical  monuments,  obscure  in- 
scriptions, rise  from  the  ruins  of  half-forgotten 
towns.  If  in  spite  of  difficulties  we  attempt  to 
read  their  riddle  and  are  successful,  what  is  it 
that  drives  us  to  the  task,  and  what  do  we 
gather  from  our  success  ?  Surely  this,  that 
our  spiritual  organisation  has  remained  the 
same,  that  the  character  of  our  thinking  has 
not  changed  with  the  changing  epochs,  that  we 
are  animated  to-day  by  the  same  old  longing  for 
happiness,  that  our  feeling  and  striving,  though 
clothed  in  a  different  garb,  remain  essentially  un- 
altered. Nor  would  we  merely  understand  the 
past.  We  would  fain  gather  from  it — and  especi- 
ally from  the  supreme  moments  of  its  creative 
activity — an  inspiration  for  our  own  life  ;  and  at 
the  root  of  this  desire  is  the  conviction  that  these 
great  moments  witnessed  the  entrance  of  some  ele- 
ment of  high  value  which  they  can  transmit  to  us, 
whereas  we  ourselves  could  never  have  discovered 
it.  Thus  we  reverently  appropriate  the  golden 
period  of  Greek  culture,  the  beginnings  of  Chris- 
tianity, the  dawn  of  the  Modern  world  ;  and  this 
we  could  not  do  if  we  did  not  feel  that  these  great 
epochs  were  not  wholly  involved  in  time,  but  that, 
amid  all  that  was  peculiar  to  their  own  age,  there 

45 


RELIGION  AND   HISTORY 

was  some  element  in  them  that  transcended  time, 
and  could  be  transmitted  to  all  times.  Now  if  we 
unite  these  several  epochs  in  our  thought,  we 
obtain  a  picture  of  spiritual  history  and  of  our 
relation  to  it  very  different  from  the  dissolving 
view  with  which  we  started — a  view  so  changefiS 
as  to  threaten  the  very  existence  of  truth.  For  in- 
stead of  merely  drifting  along  with  time,  history 
now  transcends  time.  By  distinguishing  between 
perishable  and  imperishable,  that  which  grows 
old  and  that  which  is  always  young,  it  seeks  to 
build  up  out  of  the  toils  and  struggles  of  time  a 
realm  of  truth,  to  which,  as  to  a  steadfast  star, 
we  may  attach  our  own  life.  From  this  point  of 
view,  an  interest  in  that  which  lies  behind  us  is 
not  a  flight  from  the  present  into  some  remote 
and  alien  past,  but  an  endeavour,  by  the  help  of 
every  period  of  time,  to  form  a  present  that  can 
transcend  time.  Surely  we  could  not  so  link  our- 
selves to  that  which  is  strange  to  us,  if  there  were 
not  the  same  eternal  Order  operating  there  and 
here,  an  Order  in  which  all  that  is  deepest  in  our 
human  nature  has  its  root. 

But  all  that  we  can  ask  of  such  an  eternity  or 
discover  within  it  remains  but  an  incoherent 
dream,  unless  we  recognise  in  it  a  new  kind  of 
Life  and  Being  which  has  all  its  resources  within 
itself.  But  on  our  theory  of  the  Spiritual  Life  as 
in  process  of  realising  its  independence,  we  are 
indeed  compelled  to  this  recognition ;  the  Spiritual 
Life,  as  we  understand  it,  being  the  ultimate  and 
self-sufficing  source  of  all  Reality.  Even  the  most 
cursory  scrutiny  of  the  Spiritual  Life  must  make 
it  quite  obvious  that  all  of  truth  and  good  that  it 
46 


THE  ETERNAL  IN   HISTORY 

develops  claims  a  validity  that  is  independent  of 
time.  Were  it  not  for  this  superiority  to  time, 
spiritual  striving  would  have  no  inward  stability, 
and  would  degenerate  into  a  mere  instrument  for 
the  attainment  of  human  ends.  It  is  this  and  this 
alone  which  enables  it  to  keep  its  own  aims  steadily 
in  view,  and  use  its  own  unique  resources  for  the 
spiritual  uplifting  of  man.  We  may  have  very 
different  conceptions  of  the  True  and  the  Good, 
but  the  very  effort  to  reach  these  values  would  be 
paralysed  at  its  heart  if  we  did  not  regard  them 
as  subsisting  above  aU  the  change  of  human 
circumstance  and  opinion,  and  as  representative 
of  a  new  and  timeless  Order,  The  more  we  unify 
the  Spiritual  Life  and  conceive  it  as  a  new  stage 
of  Reality,  the  clearer  does  it  become  that  it  opens 
up  to  us  a  self-poised  realm  of  eternal  truth  as 
opposed  to  the  chance  and  change  of  temporal 
events,  and  that,  for  the  first  time,  it  gives  our 
life  a  sure  foundation. 

This  then  is  man's  predicament,  that  the  eternal 
Order  in  which,  in  last  resort,  his  nature  is  rooted, 
does  not  present  itself  to  him  in  finished  form,  but 
discloses  its  more  detailed  content  only  through 
the  upward  struggle  of  a  long  historical  experience 
— that  the  basal  fact  is  at  the  same  time  a  difficult 
problem,  nay,  most  difficult  of  all  problems. 
History  is  only  valuable — indeed,  in  its  distinc- 
tively human  sense,  only  possible — as  being  the 
medium  through  which  the  Eternal  reveals  itself, 
as  being  that  whose  whole  existence  is  but  a 
struggle  for  the  eternal.  A  mere  chronicling  of 
change,  of  the  rise  and  fall  of  nations  and  men, 
without  reference  to  this  eternal  element,  though 

47 


RELIGION  AND   HISTORY 

the  claims  of  such  work  might  be  never  so  pre- 
tentious, would  not  be  deserving  the  name  of 
history.  All  genuine  historical  interest  centres, 
according  to  our  conception,  in  the  endeavour 
to  get  beyond  mere  historicity,  to  free  ourselves 
from  that  which  is  purely  temporal  in  history  and 
penetrate  to  a  deeper  level  where,  beyond  the 
reach  of  the  differences  and  distinctions  of  different 
epochs,  the  spiritual  kinship  of  all  life  may  be 
built  up.  We  shall  not  then  follow  the  older  thought 
by  riveting  the  spiritual  movement  to  one  par- 
ticular point  in  history,  thus  stiffening  it  into 
immobility ;  nor,  on  the  other  hand,  shall  we  join 
with  the  more  modem  school  in  throwing  the 
main  emphasis  on  the  movement  from  one  point 
to  another,  thus  renouncing  all  reference  to  an 
Eternal.  We  shall  rather  interpret  the  whole 
movement  as  an  unfolding  of  an  eternal  Order, 
and  strive  to  reach,  in  every  phase  of  it,  its  eternal 
element.  In  this  way  we  may  hop)e  to  do  justice 
to  the  claims  of  both  Time  and  Eternity,  and,  far 
from  opposing  freedom  of  movement  to  stability 
of  basis — or,  more  briefly,  freedom  to  depth — 
we  can  hold  firm  by  both,  and  make  each  support 
the  other. 

If  history  in  this  spiritual  sense  require  for  its 
very  subsistence  an  eternal  truth,  then  religion 
and  history  can  enter  into  a  friendlier  relation 
than  was  previously  possible.  In  the  first  place, 
there  can  be  no  manner  of  doubt  that  it  is  religion 
which  brings  out  with  peculiar  force  and  clearness 
the  time-transcending  quality  of  all  creative, 
spiritual  activity.  Religion,  more  than  anything 
else,  makes  a  whole  out  of  life,  relates  it  to  the 
48 


THE  ETERNAL  IN   HISTORY 

universe  as  a  whole,  and  directs  it  to  ultimate 
ends.  It  is  in  religion  especially  that  the  funda- 
mental relation  of  man  to  reality  becomes  clearly 
defined.  Here,  if  anywhere,  the  Spiritual  Life 
must  stamp  itself  as  unique,  and  the  whole  con- 
tinuous movement  of  time  must  subserve  one 
single  task  that  is  independent  of  time.  Religion, 
however,  implies  not  only  a  transcendence  of 
time,  but  also  an  entry  into  time.  For  indeed  the 
fundamental  truth  by  which  it  stands  or  falls  is 
just  this,  that  the  Divine,  without  any  obscura- 
tion of  its  nature,  is  present  as  a  living  force  within 
the  confines  of  our  temporal,  human  existence, 
and  there  resists  our  acquiescence  in  the  world 
as  we  find  it.  The  more  transcendent  the  Divine 
majesty,  the  more  need  is  there  that  man  should 
rise  to  higher  levels,  that  he  should  counteract 
the  debasing  influences  of  his  sense-life  and  his 
social  environment  by  keeping  vividly  before  his 
mind  the  eternal  truth  as  it  works  itself  out  in 
history.  This  leaves  free  scope,  however,  for  the 
manifold  diversity  of  the  different  historical  epochs, 
and  we  are  enabled  to  appreciate  a  progressive 
movement  even  within  the  sphere  of  religion. 
Religion  can  influence  man  only  by  entering  into 
his  particular  mode  of  existence  ;  thus  it  absorbs 
some  element  of  time,  and  is  necessarily  affected 
by  the  changes  that  take  place  in  time.  It  is  in- 
deed only  in  the  medium  of  time  that  it  can  bring 
man  little  by  little  to  a  full  recognition  of  its 
truth.  But  this  does  not  mean  that  its  own  sub- 
stance passes  under  the  dominion  of  time.  On 
the  contrary,  in  virtue  of  this  very  substance,  it 
is  compelled  to  test  and  sift  without  ceasing  all 
B  49 


RELIGION  AND  HISTORY 

that  time  can  proffer,  and,  strong  in  the  certainty 
of  possessing  truth,  to  fight  against  everything 
that  misunderstands  or  defaces  it.  I  If,  then,  reli- 
gion has  to  appear  in  a  garb  that  is  suited  to  the 
condition  of  the  age,  it  must  yet  reserve  to  itself 
the  right  of  selecting  from  out  the  prevalent  con- 
fusion that  which  is  genuinely  essential  to  the 
age,  and  therefore  in  all  probability  related  to  the 
truth.  It  is  only  as  helping  us  to  truth  that  time 
can  have  any  value  either  for  the  Spiritual  Life 
or  for  religion.  But  once  let  time  be  understood 
in  this  way,  and  it  becomes  at  once  of  priceless 
value,  since  it  is  only  through  the  movement  of 
history  that  we  can  fully  possess  ourselves  of  that 
eternal  element  in  which  our  very  being  has  its 
root. 

In  the  light  of  such  ideas  we  begin  to  see  why 
it  is  especially  in  the  case  of  religion  that  particular 
times  and  particular  personadities  are  able  to 
acquire  a  peculiar  significance  and  an  abiding 
value.  If  it  is  generally  true  that  such  spirituality 
as  we  find  in  human  existence  is  wont  to  be 
nothing  more  than  a  poor  little  addition  to  another 
order  of  living  whilst  the  epochs  of  original 
creative  activity  remain  rare  high  days  and 
holidays,  it  is  in  religion  more  particularly  that 
this  contrast  between  the  petty  and  the  heroic 
reaches  its  highest  point  of  tension.  Nowhere 
are  the  limitations  of  cumulative  mediocrity  more 
patent ;  nowhere  does  greatness  seem  so  truly 
an  irruption,  a  revelation  of  a  higher  Order.  Such 
greatness  has  indeed  a  historical  setting,  which 
conditions  it  in  certain  waj^,  gives  it  a  certain 
local  colour,  helps  to  mould  the  particular  form 

50 


EPOCHS  AND  PERSONS 

of  its  immediate  manifestation.  But  its  spiritual 
substance  is  no  mere  product  of  the  age  ;  it  is 
indeed  directly  opposed  to  it,  lifting  it  on  to  a  level 
that  were  otherwise  quite  unattainable.  It  was 
when  party-conflict  raged  fiercely,  and  civilisation 
was  given  over  to  a  refined  sensualism  that  Jesus 
proclaimed — nay,  embodied — a  world  of  deep 
peace  and  childlike  purity.  His  true  greatness 
lay  not  in  certain  particular  doctrines  he  enun- 
ciated, nor  yet  in  the  feelings  that  actuated  him, 
or  the  claims  that  he  made.  All  these  things  might 
have  been  there  without  him  ;  had  there  been 
nothing  more,  there  would  be  some  plausible 
ground  for  thinking  greatness  to  be  a  mere 
combination  of  particular  qualities,  as  a  certain 
order  of  narrow  intelligence  is  never  weary  of 
maintaining.  If  greatness  be  only  that,  then  how 
are  we  to  account,  for  instance,  for  the  beginnings 
of  Christianity  ?  How  came  it  to  pass  that  this 
particular  point  of  life  was  the  fountain-head  of 
so  mighty  a  movement,  that  old  ideals  were 
shattered,  and  new  ones  arose,  that  the  whole 
previous  balance  of  life  was  upset  and  previous 
standards  failed  to  satisfy,  that  a  mighty  longing 
took  possession  of  mankind,  a  stormy  unrest  which 
even  now,  after  hundreds  of  years,  is  not  allayed  ?  Is 
not  all  this  a  proof  that  new  sources  were  unsealed, 
new  currents  set  in  motion,  that  the  whole  life  of 
a  higher  Order  became  wonderfully  near  and  in- 
timate, overwhelmingly  forceful  and  penetrating  ? 
If,  thanks  to  our  belief  in  the  independence  of  a 
transcendent  Spiritual  Life,  we  are  able  to  dis- 
tinguish the  spiritual  substance  from  its  temporal 
and  existential  form,  then  we  can  admit  without 

51 


RELIGION  AND  HISTORY 

reserve  that  the  exact  shape  in  which  greatness  is 
clothed  is  determined  by  the  conditions  of  the 
age ;  we  can  claim  for  these  conditions  full  free- 
dom of  development ;  but,  at  the  same  time,  we 
can  keep  in  close  touch  with  the  spiritual  substance, 
and  from  this  as  a  starting-point  hope  to  win  the 
new  life.  For  in  the  whole  field  of  religion  there 
is  nothing  that  can  be  more  effective  for  good 
than  to  realise  with  vividness  and  warmth  of  con- 
viction the  indwelling  presence  of  an  elemental 
spontaneity  or  power,  and  to  realise,  moreover, 
that  this  power  has  might  to  fashion  the  spiritual 
life,  after  its  own  distinctive  manner,  into  a  uni- 
verse that  shall  contain  within  itself  the  final 
satisfaction  of  every  spiritual  need.  Once  we 
recognise  that  here  we  have  a  unifying  power 
unique  in  kind,  capable  of  refashioning  in  its  own 
way  the  whole  circle  of  existence,  we  are  in 
possession  of  a  primal,  fundamental  fact  that  no 
historical  criticism,  however  acute,  can  take  away 
from  us.  Such  criticism,  indeed,  may  easily  ex- 
ceed its  prerogative  and  fall  into  error,  if  it  seek 
to  derive  unity  from  manifoldness,  self-conscious- 
ness from  environment,  creative  power  from  the 
conditions  of  its  manifestation,  if  it  fail  to  see 
that  arranging  the  wood  upon  the  pile  is  not  the 
same  thing  as  producing  the  spiritual  spark  which 
alone  can  fire  it  into  flame.  To  bring  everything 
into  one  single  chain  of  causal  connexion,  re- 
ducing all  existence  to  a  dead  level,  is  to  destroy 
not  only  religion,  but  every  kind  of  spiritual 
transcendence,  and  therefore  all  genuine  spiritual 
culture. 
The  clear  distinction  we  are  here  drawing  be- 

52 


EPOCHS  AND  PERSONS 

tween  the  substance  of  religion  and  its  existential 
form  permits  us,  then,  to  acknowledge  at  one 
and  the  same  time  the  stability  of  an  eternal  truth 
and  the  freedom  of  historical  movement.  But  it 
does  something  more.  It  provides  us  with  a  new 
historical  method  which  is  free  from  the  dangers 
and  limitations  of  other  methods.  The  modern 
tendency  to  base  life  on  history  threatened  from 
the  outset  to  discourage  the  full  exercise  of  indi- 
vidual initiative,  and  this  danger  has  been  con- 
tinually increasing.  The  modern  movement  aimed 
at  setting  life  on  a  broader  basis  than  the  Enlighten- 
ment had  given  it.  It  sought  to  put  particular 
epochs  and  persons  in  the  setting  of  larger  and 
more  stable  systems,  to  bring  greater  satisfaction 
to  life  and  labour,  more  individuality,  more 
brightness  and  colour.  But  it  worked  on  the  tacit 
assumption  that  history  was  a  realm  of  Reason, 
and  that  this  reason  communicated  itself,  pure 
and  unclouded,  to  every  one  who  welcomed  it 
with  an  open  mind  and  a  childlike,  receptive 
spirit. 

Now  the  course  of  investigation  has  not  only 
shown  this  Reason  to  be  a  more  and  more  de- 
batable assumption,  it  has  also  shown  that  the 
relation  of  past  and  present  involves  far  more 
serious  complications  than  were  suspected  at  the 
outset.  In  the  case  of  the  Spiritual  Life  one 
period  does  not  arise  from  another  with  the  quiet 
inevitableness  of  organic  growth,  but  just  as  the 
Spiritual  Life  itself  speedily  declines  so  soon  as 
it  ceases  to  be  continuously  re-created,  so  the 
present  must,  in  last  resort,  shape  its  own  life. 
Its  relation  to  the  past  is  not  something  fixed  and 

S3 


RELIGION  AND   HISTORY 

given  ;  it  has  always  to  be  ascertained  anew. 
The  present  will  always  mould  its  conception  and 
judgment  of  the  past  by  its  own  conviction  as  to 
the  nature  of  truth.  Thus,  spiritually  speaking, 
the  past  is  by  no  means  a  finished  story.  It  is 
always  open  to  the  present  to  discover,  to  stir  up, 
something  new  in  it.  Even  the  past  is  still  in  the 
making. 

Now  the  right  which  the  present  thus  arrogates 
to  itself — when  once  it  looks  beyond  the  mere 
moment  to  a  truth  that  holds  all  time  in  its 
embrace — meets  with  serious  obstruction  from 
the  merely  historical  way  of  thinking.  The  close 
and  careful  resuscitation  of  the  past,  with  its 
accumulating  wealth  of  material,  crowds  out  all 
questions  as  to  the  truth  of  the  content  as  a  whole. 
We  are  quite  content  to  revere  as  reasonable  that 
which  comes  to  us  broad- based  on  reality  itself. 
To  do  so  is  all  the  more  attractive  because  it  seems 
as  though  we  might  thereby  draw  on  the  spiritual 
reserves  of  history  without  making  any  exertion 
of  our  own.  We  are  thus  led  farther  and  farther 
along  the  path  of  easy-going,  passive  enjoyment, 
till  finally  we  are  in  danger  of  losing  all  desire  for 
a  life  of  our  ow^n  and  becoming  the  complaisant 
train-bearers  of  distant  ages.  We  display  mar- 
vellous industry  and  aptitude  in  transplanting 
ourselves  on  to  the  soil  of  bygone  times.  We  seek 
to  understand  the  motives  of  past  ages,  and  to 
substantiate  their  claims.  We  think  and  live 
ourselves  into  them  to  such  an  extent  that  they 
almost  seem  to  belong  to  us.  And  we  forget  the 
while  that,  valuable  as  all  this  is  for  science,  it 
never  can  and  never  will  be  a  substitute  for  a  life 

54 


MERE  HISTORICITY 


of  our  own ;  that  instead  of  a  full,  true  life  we  are 
choosing  but  a  fragment,  an  illusion  ;  that,  for 
all  this  wealth  in  our  historical  treasure-house, 
we  may  be  poor  and  starved  in  our  inmost  soul. 
Pictures  instead  of  realities,  science  instead  of  con- 
viction, erudition  instead  of  personality — that  is 
the  end  of  it  all,  the  final  result  of  that  enervating 
historicity  which  to-day  so  oppresses  our  spiritual 
energy,  more  especially  in  Germany,  and  is  all 
the  more  dangerous  in  that  it  is  so  closely  allied 
to  much  that  is  best  in  us.  But  where,  in  these 
matters,  is  the  danger  of  which  we  could  not  say 
the  same  ? 

If,  however,  we  are  to  struggle  free  from  this 
historical  pedantry,  with  its  abandonment  of 
present  interests  ;  if  it  is  the  task  of  the  twentieth 
century,  by  developing  a  new  type  of  life,  to  find 
some  way  of  reconciling  the  rational  and  the 
historical  methods  which  the  two  previous  cen- 
turies have  respectively  upheld — then  there  is 
but  one  course  open  :  we  must  establish  history 
within  an  eternal  Order,  and  understand  it  as 
the  revelation  of  this  Order  on  the  plane  of  our 
human  life.  How  else  could  history  retain  its 
value  without  at  the  same  time  usurping  the  main 
place  in  life  ? 

If  an  unreserved  devotion  to  history  thus 
threaten  to  relax  the  spiritual  tension  of  our  lives, 
dangers  of  another  kind  arise  when  it  is  freely 
admitted  that  there  is  a  higher  order  of  truth  in 
history  than  the  merely  historical,  while  yet  such 
truth  is  limited  to  one  particular  point,  whence 
alone  its  influence  can  spread  to  surrounding 
regions.     This    was   characteristic   of   the   older 

55 


RELIGION  AND   HISTORY 

forms  of  religion,  and  nowhere  more  markedly 
present  than  in  Christianity.  So  profoundly  in- 
fluential is  this  older  type  of  thought  even  for  our 
modern  life  that  we  must  now  subject  it  to  a 
closer  analysis.  And  first  we  ask  why  does  it 
subordinate  everything  to  one  supreme  and  domi- 
nating event  ?  The  underlying  assumption  is 
clear :  religion  has  its  own  kind  of  history,  a 
history  which  will  have  nothing  to  do  with  a 
gradual  progress  on  the  lines  of  a  purely  natural 
development.  It  is  patent  to  every  one  that  the 
active,  formative  periods  of  religion  have  been  few 
and  far  between.  Many  causes  and  circumstances 
liave  combmed  to  produce  them,  and,  looked  at 
from  an  inner  point  of  view,  these  constructive 
movements  have  always  been  decidedly  above  the 
level  of  their  age.  Since,  then,  their  originating 
point  showed  them  at  their  strongest  and  purest, 
it  was  natural  that  religion  should  conceive  it  her 
main  task  to  keep  the  ideal  that  had  been  reached 
as  intact  as  possible,  to  return  to  it  again  and 
again  from  the  inevitable  corruptions  that  crept 
into  it  through  contact  with  the  world,  to  draw 
again  and  yet  again  upon  the  inexhaustible  source 
of  the  life  that  had  once  been  revealed.  Thus 
histor>%  from  the  human  point  of  view,  might 
well  seem  to  be  a  constant  return  upon  old  truth 
rather  than  a  progressive  advance  towards  new 
truth.  It  is  indeed  true  that  it  is  usually  the  early 
days  of  a  religion  which  have  given  it  its  peculiar 
stamp,  and  defined  for  ever  the  guiding-lines  of 
its  activity. 

There  is  much  to  be  said  for  this  view.     It 
would  be  a  shallow  mind  that  could  ignore  or 

56- 


SPIRITUAL  DEVELOPMENT 

obscure  the  distinction  between  a  history  of 
rehgion  and  a  history  understood  as  a  natural 
evolution.  Still,  this  conception  of  history  could 
only  claim  an  exclusive  right  on  the  understanding 
that  the  course  of  centuries  could  contribute 
nothing  new  to  those  problems  of  our  life  and 
being  with  which  religion  has  to  deal,  that  in  this 
respect  all  the  rest  of  life  was  but  an  ebb  and  flow 
of  human  sentiment  and  opinion,  powerless  to 
affect  the  impregnable  rock  of  truth.  Not  only 
must  the  spiritual  content  of  religion  possess  this 
immutability,  but  likewise  the  time-garment  in 
which  religion  is  clothed.  Or  rather,  in  regard  to 
this  fundamental  fact,  the  very  distinction  be- 
tween content  and  clothing  must  be  rejected  as 
derogatory  to  the  Divine. 

So  it  was  thought  for  long,  but  no  longer  can 
we  think  so  to-day.  Our  historical  training  has 
bred  into  us  an  aptitude  for  closer  observation 
and  clearer  distinction,  so  that  we  cannot  but 
reject  as  arbitrary  the  attempted  separation  of 
eternal  and  historical,  substance  and  existence. 
Nor  can  we  any  longer  accept  the  origins  of  a  re- 
ligion as  being  in  their  total  composition  eternal 
and  Divine.  We  must  first  of  all  find  out  what  is 
eternal  and  Divine  in  them,  and  disentangle  it, 
that  we  may  not,  in  blind  devotion  to  the  whole, 
confuse  human  and  Divine,  temporal  and  eternal, 
and  thus  harm  precisely  that  which  we  are  anxious 
to  assist. 

These  considerations  receive  additional  weight 
when  religion  is  closely  connected,  as  we  have 
shown  it  should  be  connected,  with  the  Spiritual 
Life  as  a  whole,  and  when,  further,  it  is  recognised 

57 


RELIGION   AND   HISTORY 

that  this  life  as  operative  among  men  shows  de- 
velopment in  certain  essential  respects  as  history 
progresses.  Though  these  developments  by  no 
means  affect  the  whole  range  of  existence,  though 
at  first  they  are  more  of  the  nature  of  demands,  or 
indeed  of  possibilities,  still  even  as  questions  and 
tasks  they  exercise  a  great  influence,  not  so  much 
on  individuals  and  groups  £is  on  the  complex  or- 
ganisations of  spiritual  labour — that  whole  system 
which  has  been  passing  more  and  more  from  the 
arbitrary  disposal  of  the  human  agent,  and  can 
never  again  come  under  his  subjective  control. 
As  the  result  of  these  further  developments  we 
find  labour  acquiring  a  definite  historical  status 
which  an  individual  here  and  there  may  ignore, 
but  with  which  every  one  must  reckon  who  would 
seek  to  augment  the  spiritual  possessions  of  hu- 
manity and  lift  man  on  to  a  higher  spiritual  plane. 
If,  then,  after  the  founding  of  a  religion,  it 
should  happen  that  the  form  which  the  Spiritual 
Life  takes  among  men  should  undergo  essential 
modifications,  then  it  must  be  highly  disastrous 
to  religion  if  it  still  hold  rigidly  to  its  older  type, 
thus  placing  the  Eternal  that  we  need  in  bondage 
to  something  of  a  temporal  nature  that  we  must 
discard.  For  it  is  not  the  mere  wish  and  whim  of 
man  that  make  us  discard  it,  nor  yet  mere  unbelief 
and  self-conceit,  but  rather  the  imperative  bidding 
of  the  Spiritual  Life,  which  we  may  not  refuse. 
This  bondage  to  the  past  may  easily  result  in 
narrowing  life,  repressing  conviction,  alienating 
that  which  should  be  most  intimate.  The  main 
danger,  however,  is  in  the  straining  and  snapping 
of  the  bond  that  subsists  between  religion  and 
58 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  THOUGHT 

spiritual  work.  Religion  threatens  to  lag  behind, 
and  finally  faU  right  away  from  this  spiritual  work. 
It  may  easily  come  to  be  regarded  as  the  product 
of  a  lower  order  of  development  which  the  pro- 
gressive movement  of  the  world's  history  has 
passed  by,  as  a  purely  human  contrivance  that 
cannot  make  good  its  claim  on  the  territory  of 
the  Spiritual  Life.  Now  whether  since  the  found- 
ing of  the  positive  religions — and  especially  of 
Christianity — changes  of  this  far-reaching  order 
have  taken  place,  is  a  question  of  fact  which  can 
only  be  decided  by  experience.  Experience, 
however,  answers  it  with  an  unhesitating  affirma- 
tive. The  development  of  modern  culture  has 
not  only  introduced  many  specific  changes  into 
the  conditions  which  prevailed  in  early  Christen- 
dom, it  has  revolutionised  the  whole  fashion  of 
life  and  work. 

The  change  affects  first  and  foremost  the  world 
of  thought.  Recent  centuries  have  radically 
transformed  our  conception  of  nature,  of  history, 
and  of  man  himself  in  his  psychical  and  spiritual 
life.  All  the  new  knowledge  that  we  owe  to  the 
multiplied  labours  of  many  combines  to  widen  our 
thought  and  life  most  effectively,  and  forces  us  to 
frame  our  conceptions  on  a  vast  and  cosmic  scale. 
Nor  is  it  merely  a  question  of  widening  the  extent 
of  their  application.  For  though  our  thought 
naturally  dwells  first  on  the  recently  discovered 
endlessness  of  the  visible  world  and  the  consequent 
dwindling  of  man's  own  sphere,  yet  the  inward 
change  goes  still  deeper.  As  spiritual  work  takes 
on  a  more  definite  stamp,  and  is  thrown  up  in 
clearer  relief,  it  finds  the  immediate  setting  of  our 

59 


RELIGION  AND  HISTORY 

human  life  too  small  for  its  tasks,  and  to  the  mere 
subjectivity  of  the  experient  it  opposes  a  creative 
activity  which  has  its  source  in  the  necessities  of 
certain  spiritual  organisations,  in  the  self-develop- 
ing powers  of  whole  provinces  of  life.  This  affects 
life  in  its  inmost  essence.  Whereas  earlier  ages 
sought  this  essence  in  the  relation  of  one  personality 
to  another — personality,  too,  being  always  con- 
ceived anthropomorphically ; — whereas,  for  them, 
the  inward  feeling  that  grew  out  of  this  relation 
was  the  very  soul  of  rejdity,  modern  movements 
and  developments  show  the  strongest  objection 
to  thus  assigning  a  central  position  to  personality 
and  a  personal  life  :  they  insist  on  a  wider  con- 
ception of  life,  and  they  find  it  in  the  idea  of  an 
impersonal  process  impelled  by  an  objective  neces- 
sity, a  process  which,  whether  natural  or  spiritual, 
controls  all  human  labour.  Man  who  for  long 
had  shrunk  back  and  held  aloof  from  the  environ- 
ing world  would  now  fain  come  into  closer  relation 
with  it  and  win  a  direct  share  in  the  life  of  the 
universe.  This  is  the  element  of  truth  which 
inspires  the  often  very  misty  effusions  of  modern 
pantheism,  and  gives  it  its  hold  over  the  minds  of 
our  contemporaries.  This  type  of  thought  finds 
anthropomorphism  and  mythology  in  many  an 
aspect  of  the  traditional  religion  that  once  seemed 
a  pure  expression  of  Divine  truth,  and  not  only  so, 
but  it  feels  the  whole  atmosphere  of  those  earlier 
times  to  be  too  narrow  and  oppressive,  and  bursts 
their  bonds  with  the  force  of  an  elemental  passion. 
There  may  be  much  that  is  problematic  in  this 
longing  for  space  and  greatness,  with  its  tendency 
to  obscure  the  more  ethical  questions  ;  and  often. 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  FEELING 

too,  the  spiritual  necessity  may  go  together  with 
a  highly  questionable  interpretation  of  it  on  man's 
part ;  but  the  very  raising  of  the  problems  has 
made  the  old  position  untenable  ;  all  the  labour 
and  acuteness  we  may  spend  on  its  defence  can- 
not retain  for  it  that  inward  sympathy  of  man- 
kind which  even  religion  cannot  dispense  with. 

But  it  is  not  only  our  thought-world  which  has 
been  profoundly  modified  since  the  early  days  of 
Christianity.  The  whole  tone  of  life  is  different 
— the  feeling  that  animates  our  effort  and  deter- 
mines our  relation  to  the  environment.  It  was 
a  weary  and  self- distrustful  world,  an  age  of  de- 
cadence, in  which  early  Christianity  had  to  work 
and  take  shape.  The  yearning  of  the  time  was  for 
firm  support  rather  than  for  freedom  of  move- 
ment ;  for  rest  and  peace,  not  for  progress  and 
struggle ;  for  safety  and  release  from  burden, 
not  for  independence  and  personal  responsibility. 
The  attempt  to  meet  this  demand  was  bound  to 
give  a  certain  bent  to  religion,  and  leave  on  it 
the  impress  of  the  very  age  whose  tendencies  it 
was  really  combating.  Thus  we  have  the  division 
into  organisation  and  authority  on  the  one  hand, 
subordination  and  devotion  on  the  other ;  a 
longing  for  visible  embodiment  of  the  unseen 
truth,  a  delight  in  the  miraculous,  incomprehen- 
sible, magical ;  a  predominantly  passive  religious 
character,  despite  all  busy  activity  in  good  works. 
We  know  how  different  all  this  is  to-day,  and 
what  a  change  has  swept  over  mankind.  There 
is  fresh  zest  in  life,  a  joyous  longing  for  active, 
creative  work,  for  progress  and  change,  for  inde- 
pendence and  personal  responsibility.  It  is  a 
6i 


RELIGION   AND  HISTORY 

movement  which  has  p)enetrated  the  whole  of  life, 
and  it  cannot  leave  religion  untouched.  A  con- 
flict with  the  older  form  is  inevitable  :  if  religion 
persist  in  identifying  herself  with  it,  she  must 
share  its  destruction  ;  but  if  the  truth  in  the  new 
movement  be  recognised  and  freely  appropriated 
by  religion  herself,  then  religion  must  assume  a 
more  active  form  and  undergo  a  very  thorough 
remodelling.  The  Reformation  began  the  task, 
but  did  not  carry  it  to  completion  ;  for  while  it 
seized  on  the  new  life-impulse  at  its  deepest  and 
most  vital  point,  yet  in  developing  its  ideas  it 
clung  in  many  respects  to  the  old  tradition.  So 
now,  when  the  religious  problem  is  again  reviving, 
we  have  once  more  to  meet  the  demand  that  faced 
the  Reformation.  Men  of  every  creed  are  longing 
for  a  more  active  religious  life,  a  greater  output  of 
religious  energy.  But  the  demand  is  not  so  easy 
of  fulfilment  as  it  might  seem.  It  is  not  sufficient 
to  induce  a  greater  movement  in  the  Subject,  to 
arouse  in  him  greater  warmth  of  feeling.  Activity 
in  the  true  sense  is  possible  only  through  a  trans- 
formation of  the  whole  existing  Order.  We  are 
here  face  to  face  with  the  great  problems  of 
universal  history.  The  final  solution  we  may  not 
see,  but  even  the  working  towards  it  induces  a 
better  understanding  between  religion  and  that 
phase  of  the  Spiritual  Life  which  the  world's  his- 
torical development  has  made  dominant  to-day. 

That  Christianity  is  capable  of  assimilating 
these  great  historical  movements  without  thereby 
sacrificing  a  truth  which  no  movement  can  affect, 
is  a  point  we  shall  have  presently  to  prove.  Here 
we  are  only  concerned  to  show  that  such  assimila- 
62 


NEW  AND  OLD 


tion  is  possible  only  when  we  regard  and  treat 
history  after  the  manner  we  have  been  describing. 
If  the  background  of  history  be  something  that 
transcends  history,  if  the  value  of  history  lie  not 
so  much  in  the  total  immediate  impression  it 
conveys  as  in  the  spiritual  content  that  is  at 
work  in  it,  then  we  cannot  complacently  accept 
without  further  ado  whatever  is  offered  us,  but 
must  use  our  own  judgment,  must  sift  and  adjust, 
must  restore  a  community  of  feeling  between  our 
own  and  other  periods,  must  win  by  our  own 
exertions  some  basis  of  mutual,  fruitful  contact 
between  present  and  past.  Spiritual  work  must 
always  select  the  present  as  its  basis  of  operation, 
and  if  anything  from  the  exhaustless  storehouse  of 
history  is  to  be  linked  with  our  own  life,  it  must 
be  able  to  show  itself  continuously  effective ;  it 
must  no  longer  wear  the  aspect  of  a  mere  past. 
Such  a  present,  however,  does  not  come  to  us 
unsought ;  we  must  win  it  by  our  spiritual  labour  ; 
we  must  transcend  the  merely  momentary  present. 
Thus  everywhere  there  is  a  call  to  greater  activity  ; 
no  room  is  left  for  helpless  drifting,  passive  acqui- 
escence, cowardly  retreat  upon  the  past.  It  be- 
comes clear  that  history  can  help  us  only  in  pro- 
portion to  the  amount  of  spiritual  strength  we 
put  into  it ;  that  it  is  not  the  source  of  our 
spiritual  life,  but  only  the  medium  in  which  it  is 
developed ;  that  the  highest  we  know,  in  religion  as 
in  history  generally,  is  revered  by  us  not  for  its 
own  sake,  but  as  being  the  revelation  and  actualisa- 
tion  of  eternal  truth.  Were  it  otherwise,  the  wor- 
ship of  man  would  be  substituted  for  the  worship 
of  God. 


63 


RELIGION  AND  HISTORY 

But  the  indispensable  presupposition  of  all  this 
spiritual  work  is  tlie  immediate  presence  of  the 
eternal  Truth  through  the  whole  course  of  history, 
its  existence  at  any  and  every  epoch  as  a  possible 
refuge  from  the  stream  of  Becoming.  But  to  ad- 
mit this  is  to  break  decisively  with  the  older 
thought,  which  concentrated  the  whole  fulness 
of  the  Eternal  at  one  single  point,  and  limited 
all  subsequent  achievement  to  the  task  of  loyal 
adherence  and  faithful  imitation.  Such  a  view 
inevitably  narrows  the  expression  of  our  activity. 
What  we  do  not  ourselves  build  and  fashion,  what 
does  not  depend  on  our  decision  for  its  existence 
and  influence,  can  never  elicit  our  whole-hearted 
energy.  Take  the  case  of  Christianity.  So  long 
as  it  was  occupied  in  a  fierce  struggle  with  a  hostile 
world,  it  still  had  room  for  the  idea  of  one  common 
work  employing  the  collective  energy  of  the 
community,  each  individual  being  responsible  at 
his  own  station  for  canying  on  his  share  of  the 
development.  According  to  Origen,  the  most 
influential  thinker  of  the  Eastern  Church, 
the  complete  fusion,  the  "interweaving"  of  the 
human  nature  and  the  Divine,  began  in  Jesus, 
and,  by  reason  of  our  solidarity,  the  human  nature 
became  Divine  not  only  in  Jesus,  but  in  all  who 
accepted  the  new  life  he  had  revealed.  The  true 
disciple  must  not  only  believe  in  Christ,  but  him- 
self become  a  Christ,  and,  through  his  life  and 
suffering,  work  for  the  good  of  the  brethren. 
When  Christianity  had  triumphed,  this  line  of 
thought  fell  into  disfavour  in  the  life  of  the  Church. 
It  now  becomes  important  to  revive  it,  though 
imder  altered  conditions  and  in  a  new  form.    If 


PROBLEMS  AND  ANTICIPATIONS 

religion  is  to  have  the  activistic  character  which 
we  are  obliged  to  insist  on,  then  we  must  recognise 
its  development  as  a  continuous  work  in  which  all 
must  co-operate. 

Any  increase  in  activity  that  we  may  expect 
as  the  result  of  such  changes  tends  at  the  same 
time  to  make  life  more  universal,  and  thought 
more  broad  and  free.  How  could  we  strive  to- 
wards an  all-embracing  truth,  independent  of  the 
peculiarities  of  this  or  that  period,  how  could 
we  seek  to  make  this  truth  the  very  atmosphere 
of  our  life,  if  we  did  not  recognise  a  universal  that 
transcends  the  particular,  and  did  not  interpret 
the  manifoldness  of  the  particular  as  a  mere  un- 
folding of  this  universal  ?  The  characteristic 
mark  of  the  Eternal  is  not  a  capacity  to  maintain 
itself  consistently  unchanged  amid  all  the  changes 
of  time.  It  is  rather  the  ability  to  enter  into  the 
varied  life  of  different  epochs  without  losing 
itself  in  them,  to  manifest  in  them  all  its  tran- 
scendent power,  to  pursue  in  them  all  the  same 
end  of  freeing  time  from  its  purely  temporal 
character. 

In  the  light  of  this  context  we  need  not  fear 
that  our  interpretation  will  land  us  in  an  empty, 
ghostly  generality,  and  thin  away  the  substance 
of  our  life.  For  it  is  a  view  that  rests  on  the  sup- 
port not  of  an  abstract  being,  but  of  an  un- 
•originated,  self-sustaining  life,  and  it  is  in  the 
character,  the  substance,  the  whole  developing 
power  of  this  life,  not  in  doctrines  and  formulas 
abstracted  from  it,  that  the  manifold  is  united 
into  one.  Undoubtedly  true  though  it  be  that 
such  life  qud  spiritual  implies  certain  beliefs 
F  6s 


RELIGION  AND  HISTORY 

regarding  reality,  and  is  bound  in  some  way  to 
translate  these  beliefs  into  doctrines,  yet  the  doc- 
trines have  value  only  in  so  far  as  they  are  em- 
bodiments of  life,  and  as  such  they  can  quite  well 
be  open  to  change  without  any  doubt  being  thereby 
cast  upon  the  truth  of  the  life  in  which  they  are 
grounded. 

The  acquisition  of  this  more  universal  and 
activistic  character  will  also  tend  to  make  the 
religious  life  more  simple  and  immediate  than  we 
usually  find  it.  It  is  of  the  utmost  importance 
for  the  effective  working  and  victorious  advance 
of  religion,  that  its  truth  admit  of  being  realised 
in  every  man's  experience,  and  that  the  appro- 
priation of  this  truth  serve  to  unfold  that  which 
is  deepest  and  most  central  in  the  nature  of  each  of 
us.  It  is  the  fundamental  conviction  of  religion  that 
the  ultimate  secrets  of  the  cosmos  declare  them- 
selves to  the  inmost  soul  and  become  man's  per- 
sonal possession  ;  apart  from  such  a  conviction, 
religion  could  not  claim  to  be  central  for  life. 
That  which  is  essential  and  necessary  must  at 
the  same  time  be  something  that  can  be  the  sub- 
ject of  immediate  experience.  This  essential 
factor,  moreover,  if  it  is  to  exercise  its  full  in- 
fluence, should  not  be  confused  with  what  is  acci- 
dental or  made  to  depend  on  it.  It  must  be  sharply 
distinguished  from  all  else,  and  its  demands 
brought  out  with  complete  clearness.  But  it  is 
precisely  Christianity  that  here  confronts  us  with 
embarrassing  complications,  complications  arising 
alike  from  its  nature  and  its  history.  We  shall 
shortly  be  concerned  with  showing  in  greater 
detail  that  Christianity  embraces  the  whole  of 
66 


PROBLEMS  AND  ANTICIPATIONS 

life — its  very  widest  range,  its  very  deepest  oppo- 
sitions. This  is  already  one  reason  why  it  should 
be  less  easily  condensed  into  a  simple  formula 
than  is  the  case  with  other  religions.  If,  neverthe- 
less, we  are  to  msist  on  a  plain  simplicity  in  Chris- 
tianity also,  it  will  be  a  simplicity  of  no  ordinary 
kind,  presenting  no  ordinary  problems.  Moreover, 
the  course  of  history  has  made  many  things  re- 
mote and  difficult  to  understand  which  to  earlier 
ages  were  obvious  enough,  affording  clear  vision 
into  eternal  truths.  For  example,  no  matter  how 
zealously  the  old  doctrine  of  the  Son's  equality 
with  the  Father  may  be  defended,  we  can  never 
regain  for  it  that  paramount  importance  in  the 
religious  life  which  it  once  possessed.  As  a  matter 
of  fact,  Christianity  in  its  historical  form  has 
become  far  too  complex  and  circumstantial.  It 
is  cumbered  with  much  half- alien  material  that 
grows  ever  more  burdensome  and  obstructive, 
and  this  must  be  weeded  out  if  ever  religion 
is  to  display  the  full  force  of  its  eternal  truth,  and 
make  all  men  work  for  it — a  requirement  which 
is  voiced  very  clearly  by  the  needs  and  confusions 
of  the  time.  We  must  then  struggle  for  greater 
simplicity  and  immediacy  in  religion,  for  a  sharper 
distinction  of  essential  from  non-essential,  for 
the  development  of  a  characteristic  unity  of  life, 
a  selective  unity  that  shall  organise  what  is  relevant 
to  its  purpose,  and  reject  what  is  alien.  Such  a 
quest  cannot  be  undertaken  save  by  a  Spiritual 
Life  that  transcends  mere  time  and  the  finitude 
of  man,  and  is  able  to  bring  time  and  eternity  into 
the  right  relation.  We  have  now  to  see  what  it 
is  that  this  characteristic  unity  consists  in.  Shall 
67 


RELIGION  AND  HISTORY 

we  find  it  ?  Will  it  stand  out  clear  despite  all 
the  confusion  of  the  present  situation  ?  This  is 
the  question  that  will  decide  whether  the  view 
we  have  adopted  of  time  and  eternity  is  one  that 
can  justify  itself,  whether  religion  is  able  to 
triumph  over  the  changes  of  time,  or  whether  it 
also  shall  be  caught  in  the  vortex  of  these  changes 
and  dragged  down  to  destruction. 


68 


Ill 

WHAT  IS  CHRISTIANITY? 

INQUIRIES  concerning  the  nature  of  a 
historical  religion,  and  therefore,  too,  con- 
cerning the  nature  of  Christianity,  are  wont  to- 
day to  meet  with  a  doubtful  reception.  For  there 
is  always  a  temptation  to  press  the  exhaustless 
variety  of  life  into  a  conventional  mould,  and  it 
seems  hard  to  find  a  happy  mean  between  vague 
generality  and  the  rigid  stereotyping  of  one  par- 
ticular form.  We  do  not  deny  the  dangers. 
They  are  certainly  there,  but  our  task  is  so  im- 
perative that  we  cannot  allow  ourselves  to  be 
daunted  by  them.  It  is  imperative,  if  only  on 
account  of  the  many  attacks  that  are  being  levied 
against  Christianity  at  the  present  time.  Perverse, 
shallow,  often  directly  erroneous  presentations  have 
caught  the  ear  of  many  of  our  contemporaries, 
warping  their  judgment  in  most  extraordinary 
fashion.  To  fight  against  these  misrepresen- 
tations is  impossible,  unless  we  understand 
clearly  what  it  is  that  we  have  to  defend.  But 
even  for  us  who  are  friends  of  the  cause  there  is 
a  certain  value  in  reflection  on  the  central  issues 
of  our  thought- world.  It  may  help  us  to  meet  with 
calmness  and  a  sense  of  mastery  that  overwhelm- 
ing multiplicity  of  impressions  which  pours  in  on 
us  from  the  rapidly  increasing  division  of  labour, 
69 


WHAT  IS  CHRISTIANITY? 

and  in  particular  from  the  ^\'idening  field  of 
historical  research.  That  a  compliant  yielding 
to  these  impressions  will  leave  us  with  nothing 
more  than  half-beliefs,  and  finally  deliver  us 
over  to  a  destructive  relativity,  has  already  been 
made  so  clear  to  us  that  we  cannot  but  welcome 
any  counteracting  influence.  Thus  we  note  with 
particular  pleasure  that  Ernst  Troeltsch,  that 
leading  spirit  in  the  younger  generation  of  German 
theologians,  has  brought  this  question  into  the 
foregroimd  in  his  book  entitled  "  The  Absolute- 
ness of  Christianity,"  handling  it  with  the  depth 
and  thoroughness  that  are  characteristic  of  his 
work.  We  cannot  emulate  him  here  in  pushing 
the  problem  back  to  its  ultimate  bases.  Our  pre- 
sent inquiry  is  on  a  more  modest  scale.  But  there 
is  hope,  nevertheless,  that  it  may  contribute  its 
quota  of  usefulness  to  the  task  by  carrying  on,  in 
regard  to  this  problem,  the  line  of  thought  already 
indicated  in  the  previous  sections  ;  at  the  same 
time  seeking  to  bring  out  clearly  the  unique  cha- 
racter of  Christianity  as  compared  with  other 
religions. 

If  we  take  the  problem  of  life  as  our  starting- 
point  in  seeking  to  jiscertain  the  nature  of  the 
different  religions,  we  shall  not  spend  our  time 
in  hunting  for  a  mysterious  substance  which 
lies  behind  phenomena,  nor  in  pursuing  some 
abstract  formula ;  but,  comprehending  all  life's 
manifestations  into  one  Whole,  we  shall  seek  to 
refer  them  to  the  driving-power  which  sustains 
them,  and  to  find  some  dominating  central  point 
whence  we  may  throw  light  on  their  nature.  We 
shall  try  to  reach  so  far  that  we  may  catch  the 
70 


STATEMENT  OF  THE  PROBLEM 

life,  so  to  speak,  at  its  fountain-head,  and  look 
upon  all  that  experience  has  to  offer  as  an  outcome 
from  this  primal  source  of  power.  Doctrines,  in- 
stitutions, emotional  tendencies  wUl  have  value 
only  as  witnessing  to  this  deeper  life  :  the  extent 
to  which  they  minister  to  it  is  the  true  measure 
of  their  importance.  As  they  do  not  themselves 
supply  the  essence  of  religion,  they  cannot  claim 
to  be  inviolable,  but  must  be  ready  for  every 
change  which  may  be  found  necessary  for  the 
development  of  this  deeper  life  within  human  ex- 
perience. By  "  life,"  of  course,  we  here  under- 
stand not  the  mere  individual's  subjective  states, 
but  inward  experience  taken  in  its  totality,  a  self- 
sustaining  process,  an  unfolding  of  a  unique 
spiritual  reality.  It  is  the  character  of  this  life 
and  the  end  which  it  subserves  in  virtue  of  its 
relation  to  an  Absolute  Life,  that  constitutes 
the  main  mark  of  differentiation  between  the 
different  religions,  and  determines  the  precise 
form  which  each  one  takes.  Does  the  life  offered 
us  by  this  or  that  religion  appeal  to  what  is  deepest 
in  our  nature  ?  Is  it  capable  of  comprehending 
all  that  is  most  diverse  and  antagonistic  in  our 
experience  ?  The  more  this  is  so,  the  more  are 
we  entitled  to  consider  it  as  dominant  and  con- 
clusive, the  more  truth  will  we  find  in  its  nature, 
so  understood.  It  is  in  this  sense  that  we  would 
seek  first  of  all  to  seize  on  the  distinctive  features 
of  Christianity  by  making  a  general  survey  of  the 
life  it  reveals,  and  then  to  trace  how  history 
verifies  our  conception. 

If  we  start,  then,  from  the  life-process,  we  shall 
not  have  to  deal  with  an  endlessly- varied  content, 

71 


WHAT  IS  CHRISTIANITY? 

such  as  our  first  impressions  of  the  gay  pageant 
of  humanity  might  present  to  us.  We  shall  only 
need  to  concern  ourselves  with  a  very  limited 
number  of  possibilities.  Leibniz's  saying  about 
Nature — that  she  is  simple  as  regards  principles, 
and  endlessly  varied  as  regards  their  application 
— is  equally  true  of  the  fundamental  forms  of  the 
Spiritual  Life.  There  are  very  few  clearly  marked 
types  between  which  our  existence  oscillates  and 
from  among  which  we  have  to  make  our  choice. 
So  it  will  be  no  laborious  matter  to  arrive  here  at 
some  definite  conclusion. 

In  regard  to  the  further  question,  however,  as 
to  where  it  is  that  the  distinctive  character  of  the 
different  forms  of  life  shows  itself  most  clearly,  it 
is  precisely  the  most  universal  of  the  religious 
problems  that  gives  us  our  clue.  Discontent  with 
the  world  as  it  is,  till  at  last  such  a  world  becomes 
unendurable,  is  what  drives  the  soul  to  religion. 
From  religion  we  hope  to  gain  that  which  we 
cannot  gain  from  the  world,  but  at  the  same  time 
cannot  do  without.  Thus  the  question  that  presses 
itself  on  us  is  the  question  where  and  how  it  is 
that  we  are  conscious  of  a  defect,  a  disturbance, 
a  warping  of  existence,  which  will  not  allow  us  to 
rest.  In  a  word,  it  is  the  problem  of  evil  that  is  the 
winnowing-fan  for  religions  as  for  persons,  and 
it  is  their  solution  of  this  problem  which  is  the 
real  test  of  their  pretensions.  Here  more  than 
anywhere  else  life  is  concentrated  into  one  ques- 
tion and  one  answer. 

Now  religions,  in  so  far  as  they  have  any  inde- 
pendence at  all  over  against  the  rest  of  life,  in  so 
far  as  they  reveal  a  distinctively  spiritual  temper 

72 


TYPES  OF  LIFE 


fall  under  two  main  types  :  the  religions  of  law 
and  the  religions  of  redemption.  The  former  do 
not  make  any  complete  break  with  the  world, 
nor  do  they  demand  a  wholly  new  manner  of 
being.  What  they  miss  in  the  world  of  experience 
is  the  moral  order,  the  principle  of  righteousness, 
which  they  cannot  be  content  to  forgo.  In  order 
to  realise  it  they  invoke  the  aid  of  a  higher  Power, 
regulative  and  retributive  in  kind.  In  the  light 
of  this  dispensation  of  righteousness  they  impose 
upon  man  stem  commands,  whose  fulfilment 
brings  lavish  reward  either  here  or  hereafter, 
while  heavy  penalties  threaten  the  transgressor. 
That  man  has  an  innate  capacity  for  doing  good 
and  avoiding  evil  is  never  for  a  moment  doubted. 
All,  that  human  effort  needs  to  keep  it  on  the 
right  way  is  a  quickening,  strengthening,  guiding 
hand. 

Now  this  view  of  the  problem  and  of  the  services 
of  religion  does  not  satisfy  the  religions  of  re- 
demption.  They  go  further.  It  is  not  this  or 
that  feature  of  the  given  Order  which  seems  to 
them  unsatisfactory.  They  regard  it  as  an  utter 
failure,  rotten  to  the  core  and  thoroughly  irra- 
tional. Nothing  short  of  a  complete  release  from 
it  and  the  introduction  of  a  radically  new  Order 
can  give  life  stability  and  value.  Gradual  im- 
provement is  not  sufficient.  There  must  be  an 
entire  revolution.  It  is  this  contention  that  first 
gives  the  religious  problem  its  compelling  force  : 
here  we  have  world  against  world,  and  all  work 
seems  vain,  all  gain  illusory,  unless  we  succeed 
in  mounting  to  a  new  level  and  winning  at  the 
same  time  a  new  being.     As  the  problem  thus 

73 


WHAT  IS  CHRISTIANITY? 

gains  in  profundity,  the  religions  of  redemption 
inevitably  come  to  regard  the  religions  of  law  as 
mere  preliminary  stages. 

But  even  the  religions  of  redemption  themselves 
are  divided  into  two  fundamentally  different 
types — the  Indian  and  the  Christian.  In  the  one 
case  it  is  the  very  existence  of  the  world,  the 
general  way  in  which  things  happen,  that  forces 
on  a  break  with  the  given  Order ;  in  the  case  of 
Christianity  it  is  merely  the  particular  state  of  the 
world.  For  the  Hindus  the  world  is  a  realm  of 
mere  illusion  and  transitory  becoming.  As  nothing 
in  it  is  permanent,  it  cannot  afford  any  stable 
happiness.  We  seize  a  thing  with  longing,  and 
it  slips  through  our  hands.  All  life  is  suffering  in 
so  far  as  it  takes  illusion  for  truth,  clings  to  it, 
wastes  affection  on  it,  and  exposes  itself  constantly 
to  bitter  disappointment  without  any  hope  that 
things  will  ever  be  other  and  better.  Thus  the 
goal  to  strive  for  is  emancipation  from  all  this 
hollow  illusion,  and  to  this  end  we  must  be  able 
to  see  through  it,  bringing  our  whole  soul  to  the 
task.  For  it  is  in  and  through  this  insight  that 
all  our  longing  for  such  a  world  will  collapse,  and 
the  passionate  impulse  to  live  will  be  totally 
extinguished.  It  is  true  that  what  we  gain  in  this 
way  is  not  a  realm  of  positive  content  and  happi- 
ness, but  rather  a  condition  of  complete  repose, 
a  d5'^ing  away  of  all  the  passions  in  a  mist  of  love 
and  sorrow,  a  state  of  pure  passivity :  whether, 
with  the  Brahman  sages,  we  represent  it  by  the 
image  of  a  dreamless  sleep,  or,  with  the  earliest 
Buddhist  thinkers,  we  picture  it  as  a  total  anni- 
hilation.    In  either  case,  the  world  and  all  its 

74 


THE  HINDU  TYPE 


unrest  sink  before  the  power  of  contemplation  ; 
repose  steals  over  the  whole  being,  a  feeling  of 
great  relief  as  the  heavy  fetters  crumble  away — 
those  fetters  forged  for  man  solely  by  illusion  and 
in  last  resort,  according  to  Buddhist  conceptions, 
by  the  craving  for  life,  by  "  thirst." 

"  Whom  thirst  conquers — thirst,  the  con- 
temptible, that  pours  its  poison  throughout  the 
world — for  him  will  suffering  grow  as  the  grass 
grows.  Who  conquers  thirst,  the  contemptible, 
that  is  hard  to  escape  in  the  world,  from  him  wUl 
suffering  fall  away  like  the  water-drop  from  the 
lotus-flower." 

These  utterances  of  the  Hindu  conviction  affect 
us  by  their  simplicity  and  sincerity.  But  we  must 
not  allow  ourselves  to  overlook  the  extent  of  their 
deficiencies  and  surrenders.  They  set  the  ^whole 
theme  of  life  in  a  lower  key  ;  they  deprive  it  of  all 
strong  stimulus.  Here  there  is  no  love  rushing  to 
the  rescue :  each  man  takes  the  decisive  step  for 
himself  alone.  Consequently  there  is  no  world 
of  inward  life  common  to  all  men,  no  common 
struggle  against  the  irrationality  of  existence. 
With  all  its  subjective  susceptibility,  this  life  as  a 
whole  is  cold.  It  lacks  all  warmth  of  personality ; 
its  strength  lies  far  more  in  what  it  denies  than  in 
what  it  affirms. 

Life  as  it  meets  us  on  Christian  ground  is  very 
different.  The  passions  by  which  it  is  sustained 
are  incomparably  more  positive.  Here,  too,  there 
is  a  strong  vein  of  negation,  but  it  is  not  the  world 
in  general  that  is  repudiated,  only  the  particular 
condition  of  the  world  at  a  given  time ;  and  this 
condition  has  been  brought  about  not   by  any 

75 


WHAT  IS  CHRISTIANITY? 

natural  necessity,  nor  yet  by  a  mere  misapprehen- 
sion, but  by  man's  free  activity.  If  the  bad,  then, 
be  conceived  as  a  perversion  of  the  good,  there  is 
no  repudiation  of  existence  as  such.  The  impulse 
to  live  is  not  killed  at  its  root.  There  is  alwajrs 
hope  that  the  bad,  which  originated  with  man's 
free  act,  will  likewise  be  removed  by  it.  But  there 
are  immense  difficulties  in  the  way.  For  the  per- 
version goes  so  deep,  the  capacity  for  good  is  so 
maimed  and  mutilated,  that  it  is  held  to  be  im- 
possible for  unaided  human  strength  to  make 
the  move  towards  better  things,  and  equally  im- 
possible that  this  should  be  effected  by  a  gradual 
ascent,  a  slow  improvement.  What  is  needed, 
rather,  is  a  complete  revolution,  a  reconstituting 
of  life,  and  only  a  power  that  is  not  of  this  world, 
only  the  (xodhead  Itself,  can  bring  such  a  change 
to  pass.  The  Christian  conception  of  the  way  in 
which  the  change  is  wrought  is  that  free  love  and 
grace  wipe  out  the  guilt,  and  a  new  life  is  founded 
on  the  basis  of  fellowship  with  God. 

Simple  as  this  life  may  at  first  sight  appear,  it 
involves  changes  and  developments  of  the  very 
first  importance.  Since  at  all  its  decisive  turnings 
life  depends  on  man's  free  activity,  it  acquires 
an  essentially  ethical  character,  and  distinguishes 
itself  sharply  from  all  merely  natural  process. 
Again,  since  its  main  problem  does  not  lie  in  its 
relation  to  the  world,  but  rather  in  its  relation  to 
itself,  to  its  own  conceptions  of  the  ideal,  we  attain 
for  the  first  time  a  pure  inwardness,  an  inward 
world  teeming  with  great  problems.  The  world 
that  once  was  man's  whole  reality  is  now  depressed 
to  the  status  of  a  mere  environment.  Since  the 
76 


YES  AND  NO  IN  CHRISTIANITY 

inward  processes  now  become  all-important,  and 
the  critical  turning-point  lies  chiefly  within  and 
not  without,  a  history  of  the  soul  is  for  the  first 
time  possible.  Thus,  throughout,  life  and  its  tasks 
are  conceived  from  an  inward  standpoint  to  an 
extent  never  before  reached  even  approximately 
by  any  great  world-religion. 

But  it  is,  above  all,  in  the  treatment  of  suffer- 
ing that  Christianity  displays  its  distinctive  cha- 
racter. By  bringing  suffering  into  the  very  fore- 
front of  life,  and  constantly  dwelling  upon  it,  it 
differentiates  itself  in  a  very  special  way  from  the 
old  worldly  wisdom,  which  advised  that  the  soul 
should  sheathe  itself  proudly  in  armour,  and  drive 
sorrow  as  far  from  it  as  possible.  The  division 
between  these  two  views  is  not  a  mere  question  of 
taste  ;  it  depends  on  what  the  facts  of  our  human 
existence  really  are.  If  it  be  true  that  it  presents 
us  with  serious  complexities,  complexities  that 
do  not  concern  merely  our  relation  to  the  external 
world,  but  affect  the  most  intimate  depths  of  the 
soul,  if  we  see  a  severe  struggle  transpiring  in 
man  between  the  spiritual  demands  of  his  nature 
and  his  actual  conduct,  then  it  were  as  foolish  to 
blame  us  for  tackling  these  problems  as  it  would 
be  to  reproach  a  doctor  with  caring  for  the  sick 
rather  than  the  healthy.  Now  since  the  experi- 
ences alike  of  history  and  of  ordinary  life  show  us 
that  such  is  the  truth,  and  only  a  shallow  optimism 
can  deny  it,  it  is  a  step  of  momentous  importance 
for  the  world's  history  that  Christianity  should 
for  the  first  time  have  appreciated  suffering  as  a 
whole,  attacked  it  as  a  whole,  undertaken  to 
subdue  it  as  a  whole.    For  its  concern  with  suffer- 

77 


WHAT  IS  CHRISTIANITY? 

ing  does  not  imply  any  intention  of  surrendering 
to  it,  or  lingering  over  it  in  weak  sentimentality. 
The  object  is  rather  to  rise  by  means  of  it  to  a 
higher  level,  and  to  confront  it  with  a  world  of 
love  and  faith.  It  is  true  that  in  times  of  faint 
and  feeble  activity  historical  Christianity  has 
shown  too  great  a  disposition  to  linger  over  its 
merely  inward  experience.  It  has  not  wrought  its 
inward  gain,  as  it  should  do,  into  the  texture  of 
the  outer  world,  but  rather  tended  to  ignore  such  a 
world  as  subsidiary  and  immaterial.  This,  how- 
ever, does  not  in  any  way  alter  the  fact  that  the 
main  tendency  of  Christianity  is  affirmative, 
though  the  life  which  it  affirms  is  supernatural 
rather  than  natural.  It  is  an  affirmation  which 
includes  a  distinct  element  of  negation,  a  break 
with  the  merely  natural.  It  has  nothing  of  that 
wild  craving  for  life,  that  "  thirst  "  which  the 
Hindus  so  rightly  repudiated. 

The  characteristic  combination  of  affirmative 
and  negative  which  we  find  in  the  Christian  life 
is  further  confirmed  by  the  actual  relation  of  these 
two  elements  in  our  human  experience.  For  here 
we  find  that  the  No  is  not  a  transitional  point  that 
is  swiftly  past ;  it  is  not  a  mere  means  of  bringing 
life  to  realise  its  own  depth ;  it  persists  even 
after  the  Yes  has  appeared :  it  is,  indeed,  only 
through  the  contrast  that  its  full  force  is  first 
perceived.  For  however  real  the  affirmation,  it  is 
in  the  first  instance  confined  to  the  soul,  to  a  region 
of  faith  and  hope  ;  the  resistance  of  an  alien  and 
hostile  world  still  remains  unmet.  Thus,  under 
human  conditions,  life  never  attains  a  full  and 
complete  finality  :  it  remains  in  perpetual  oscilla- 
78 


APPRECIATION   OF  SORROW 

tion  between  two  opposite  poles.  Containing 
within  itself  the  greatest  contrasts — the  highest 
summit  of  blissful  perfection  and  the  deepest 
abysses  of  sorrow  and  guilt — it  must,  in  the  con- 
stant passing  from  one  to  the  other,  dig  ever 
deeper  into  itself,  and  create  its  own  world.  If 
intellectual  concepts  prove  inadequate  to  the 
closer  description  of  this  world,  the  art  of  music 
is  well  able  to  deal  with  it.  A  Palaestrina  and  a 
Bach  are  here  more  eloquent  than  all  the  sages. 

If,  however,  we  want  a  fuller  light  on  the 
changes  that  take  place  in  the  condition  of  our 
life,  we  can  gain  it  by  inquiring  more  closely  into 
the  quality  of  the  affirmation  with  which  Chris- 
tianity confronts  the  complications  of  the  world. 
The  affirmations  of  religion  always  originate  in  a 
disclosure  or  revelation  of  the  Divine.  Thus  it  is 
the  nature  of  this  revelation  that  will  determine 
the  positive  content  of  religion.  Now  in  respect  to 
this  revelation,  Christianity  is  far  in  advance  of  all 
other  religions.  For  they  limit  God's  intercourse 
with  humanity  to  certain  particular  utterances, 
and,  manifold  though  the  relations  may  be,  a  wide 
gulf  stUl  separates  God  and  man.  Christianity,  on 
the  other  hand,  stands  for  a  complete  fusion  of 
the  two  natures  ;  the  Divine  in  all  the  fulness  of 
its  splendour  can  enter  into  the  human,  and  thus 
the  human  from  its  inmost  depth  can  be  lifted  up 
into  the  Divine.  Thus  the  Divine  life  becomes 
directly  and  immediately  man's  own.  He  shares 
in  Its  perfection,  eternity,  infinity,  and  is  lifted 
secure  above  all  the  limitation  and  error  of  the 
world — above  sorrow,  misery,  and  guilt.  It  is 
this  communion  with  the  Divine  that  first  gives 

79 


WHAT  IS  CHRISTIANITY? 

Christian  truth  its  triumphant  certainty,  whereas 
the  persistence  of  a  gulf  between  human  and 
Divine  alwa}^  conduces  to  uncertainty  and  doubt. 
The  dogmatic  formulation  of  this  fundamental 
truth  of  Christianity — the  doctrine  of  the  Divine 
humanity  of  Christ — has,  indeed,  from  the  very 
outset  been  the  cause  of  much  confusion,  and 
many  honest  adherents  of  Christianity  are  to- 
day unable  to  accept  it.  At  no  point  is  there 
greater  need  of  insisting  on  the  requirement  we 
have  already  elaborated — the  necessity  of  not 
riveting  a  fundamental  fact  to  some  particular 
point  in  history,  but  of  treating  this  point  simply 
as  the  high-water  mark  of  a  movement  which 
embraces  the  whole  of  humanity,  and  recognising 
in  this  movement  a  continuous  work,  an  activity 
which  calls  for  constant  renewal,  a  life-stream 
that  is  always  flowing.  This  does  not  detract 
from  the  miraculous,  transforming  character  of 
the  entry  of  the  Divine  into  the  human,  of  the 
creation  and  preservation  of  a  world  of  absolute 
truth  amid  all  the  limitations  and  errors  of  human 
existence.  The  marvel  of  the  transformation  is 
rather  heightened  than  otherwise.  Not,  indeed, 
till  the  wider  view  be  taken  does  it  become  really 
effective  and  able  to  sustain  humanity  in  all  the 
great  crises  of  its  history. 

It  is  this  entry  of  the  Divine  into  man's  sphere, 
with  its  inversion  of  the  primitive  order  of  things, 
that  first  gives  the  elements  of  the  Christian  life 
their  full  depth  and  force.  Only  thus  can  we  do 
equal  justice  to  its  love  and  gentleness  on  the 
one  hand,  and  to  its  seriousness  and  truth  on  the 
other.  Christian  love  means  something  very  much 
80 


UNION  OF  HUMAN  AND   DIVINE 

more  than  is  conveyed  in  the  woefully  shallow 
presentment  of  it  lately  indulged  in  even  in  popular 
romances.  For  it  is  no  soft  connivance  at  human 
weakness  and  error,  no  embellishing  of  the  events 
of  the  world,  no  Yea  and  Amen  to  every  pronounce- 
ment. It  is  characterised  rather  by  an  infinite 
seriousness,  demanding,  as  it  does,  a  new  world 
and  a  new  life  which  only  the  Divine  Power  can 
bestow.  The  task  that  devolves  on  man  is  not 
merely  man's  concern,  a  private  matter  of  his 
own  happiness,  but  it  has  a  far-reaching  effect  on 
the  ordering  of  the  Whole,  and  is  thus  fraught  with 
grave  responsibility.  It  is  not  merely  this  or  that 
particular  good,  but  spiritual  Being  in  general 
that  is  in  question.  The  struggle  is  for  a  life  of 
inward  freedom,  and  therefore  of  truth,  even  in 
the  present  dispensation.  It  is  about  these  poles 
of  love  and  truth  that  the  history  of  Christianity 
revolves.  Prominence  has  been  given  sometimes 
to  the  one  and  sometimes  to  the  other  ;  their  com- 
plete union  is  an  ideal  for  all  time.  That  its  meta- 
physics should  be  ethical  and  its  ethics  meta- 
physical constitutes  the  peculiarity  and  the  great- 
ness of  Christianity,  and  gives  it  also  its  lasting 
interest.  Earlier  ages  have  often  made  it  too  one- 
sidedly  metaphysical.  We  moderns  must  beware 
of  allowing  it  to  degenerate  into  mere  ethics. 

Amid  all  these  developments  the  greatness  of 
Christianity  comes  out  especially  in  its  inclusive- 
ness.  It  embraces  the  widest  possible  range  of 
life's  activities  and  experiences.  In  particular, 
it  does  not  halt  paralysed  between  the  oppositions 
that  it  brings  into  such  clear  relief.  It  rises  above 
them,  and  undertakes  to  overcome  them.  And 
G  8t 


WHAT  IS  CHRISTIANITY? 

this  not  through  sage  reasoning  and  prudent  cal- 
culation, but  through  the  intervention  of  a  tran- 
scendent fact,  through  the  opening  up  of  a  new 
world  grounded  in  Divine  love — a  world  which 
offers  a  sure  standing-ground  from  which  to  face 
the  conflict,  and  also  enables  us  to  aim  at  a  radical 
transformation  of  human  existence. 

It  is  just  this  concurrence  of  measureless  move- 
ment and  assured  rest,  this  position  at  once  in  and 
above  all  the  struggles  of  the  world,  that  gives  to 
the  Christian  life  a  distinctive  stamp  and  an  inner 
independence.  Clearly  Christianity  does  not  con- 
sist in  the  performance  of  certain  services  within 
the  framework  of  a  life  larger  than  itself,  nor  does 
it  merely  add  some  new  features  to  an  existing 
situation.  It  grows  up  as  a  life  of  independent 
content  and  mode  of  organisation,  a  unique  reality 
which,  for  the  first  time,  gives  access  to  a  Spiritual 
Life  that  is  purely  self-sustaining,  an  inner  world 
that  yet  transcends  all  the  idiosyncrasies  of  the 
mere  individual. 

But  this  inner  world  does  not  remain  as  a  kind 
of  separate  realm,  side  by  side  with  our  ordinary 
existence  ;  it  professes  to  be  the  central  and  con- 
trolling power  of  all  reality.  Just  as  the  early 
Christians,  however  sorely  oppressed  in  their  out- 
ward lot,  termed  themselves,  boldly  and  joyously, 
the  soul  of  the  world,  so  there  runs  through  the 
whole  of  Christianity  a  longing  to  give  to  the 
world  and  to  life  the  soul  which  else  they  lack. 
And  the  only  way  of  giving  it  is  to  build  up  a  new 
kingdom,  grounded  in  the  purely  inward  life, 
but  working  with  mighty  effect  in  the  visible 
sphere,  and  meeting  Unreason  upon  its  own 
82 


THE  HEROIC  IN  CHRISTIANITY 

ground.  Thus  we  have  the  formation  of  the  Church 
in  quite  another  sense  than  that  in  which  the  other 
religions  understand  it.  It  is  the  inevitable  result 
of  this  contact  with  an  alien  world  that  the  latter 
should  make  its  power  felt,  and  endless  are  the 
complications  that  result  from  its  debasing  in- 
fluence. Thus  the  history  of  the  Christian  Church 
is  anything  rather  than  a  pure  and  peaceful  un- 
folding of  Christian  life.  Worldliness,  with  its 
longing  for  power,  advantage,  enjoyment,  and  the 
like,  has  pressed  its  way  in  and  dimmed  the  lustre 
of  the  ideal.  Ever  and  again  Christianity  has 
had  to  fight  not  against  outer,  but  rather  against 
inner  foes.  It  has  had  to  struggle  to  maintain  the 
purity  of  its  truth,  the  elevation  of  its  own  nature. 
But  however  much  it  be  defaced  and  obscured, 
any  one  who  has  regard  to  the  wholeness  and  in- 
wardness of  Christianity  will  find  that  the  positive 
element  preponderates.  More  important  than 
all  the  faults  which  may  characterise  its  human 
expression  is  the  fact  of  the  movement  towards 
a  new  world,  the  proclamation  of  a  purely  inward 
realm  within  a  world  of  external  connexions,  of 
an  eternal  truth  within  the  stream  of  time,  of  a 
kingdom  of  love  at  the  heart  of  a  hard,  unheed- 
ing world.  And  with  the  proclaiming  went  the 
attempt  at  realisation,  a  struggle  the  most  heroic 
that  our  world  permits  of.  There  is  the  shock  of 
conflict  not  only  with  human  conditions,  but 
with  our  most  immediate  conceptions  of  the  world. 
Victory  is  impossible  without  a  complete  inver- 
sion of  the  whole  existing  Order.  This  apparently 
impossible  attempt  could  only  be  inspired  by  the 
consciousness  of  thereby  ministering  to  humanity's 

83 


WHAT  IS  CHRISTIANITY? 

pressing  need  for  spiritual  self-preservation,  and 
by  the  sure  conviction  of  a  sustaining  higher 
Power.  Wherever  all  this  has  been  duly  recog- 
nised, there  all  the  defects  and  failures  of  our 
human  presentation  of  the  Christian  life  have  been 
unable  to  impair  its  significance,  or  shake  the 
fact  on  which  it  is  founded. 

He  who  thus  places  the  essence  of  a  religion  in 
the  life  that  it  reveals  is  not  thereby  compelled  to 
be  indifferent  to  its  thought  and  the  doctrines  it 
proclaims.  He  will  indeed  be  quick  to  perceive 
the  danger  of  so  interpreting  the  emphasis  on  life 
as  to  rob  thought  and  doctrine  of  their  significance, 
on  the  ground  that  life  is  what  matters,  not  con- 
cepts. This  latter  doctrine  confuses  subjective 
life,  the  mere  private  being  of  the  individual,  with 
Spiritual  Life.  The  former  may  be  content  with  a 
vague  feeling  that  is  compatible  with  very  diverse 
worlds  of  thought,  but  the  Spiritual  Life  demands 
a  content,  and  that  this  content  shall  be  true, 
and  to  this  end  it  must  have  firm  convictions  and 
guiding  ideas.  But  it  develops  its  convictions  out 
of  the  life-process,  instead  of  building  them  up  in 
opposition  to  it.  Thus,  for  religion,  only  those 
doctrines  are  fundamentally  significant  which  im- 
mediately express  the  character  of  the  life-system 
they  represent,  and  the  substance  of  religious 
doctrine  must  be  subject  to  constantly  recurring 
tests,  that  we  may  see  whether  it  contains  all  that 
is  necessary  for  the  development  of  the  particular 
life  in  question,  and  nothing  more  than  is  necessary. 
For  anything  in  excess  is  an  evil,  inasmuch  as  it 
obscures  what  is  essential,  and  weakens  its  force. 
We  have  already  given  it  as  our  conviction  that 

84 


THE  DEMANDS  OF  THOUGHT 

in  view  of  the  far-reaching  changes  which  the 
Spiritual  Life,  as  manifest  to  us,  has  undergone, 
a  thorough  testing  and  sifting  now  seem  to  be 
requisite ;  but  even  the  keenest  perception  of  the 
inadequacy  of  the  traditional  world  of  thought 
should  not  mislead  us  as  to  the  necessity  of  some 
such  systematic  thinking.  The  rejection  of  in- 
tellectualism  should  never  become  an  attack  on 
the  just  claim  and  significance  of  the  function  of 
thought. 

But  necessary  as  a  thought-world  is  to  religion, 
its  closer  elaboration  must  vary  with  that  stage 
of  the  world's  work  which  it  interprets.  Each 
different  epoch,  in  so  far  as  it  has  its  own  spiritual 
stamp,  must  shape  the  fundamental  truth  in  its 
own  way,  and  to  this  end  be  left  entirely  free. 
In  all  that  concerns  historical  development  in  time, 
one  age  must  never  become  the  slave  of  another. 
Thus,  after  the  searching  changes  of  the  last  few 
centuries,  the  world  of  Christian  thought  stands 
in  need  of  a  thorough  reformation.  But  this 
cannot  be  entrusted  to  the  vague  reflections  of 
some  particular  individual ;  it  must  proceed  ^from 
the  whole  organised  life  of  Christianity,  The 
spiritual  actuality  that  is  here  at  work  must  supply 
the  standard  and  measure  of  all  such  movements. 
Otherwise  we  degrade  Christianity  to  a  mere 
featureless  nonentity,  an  almost  negligible  quan- 
tity. The  more  we  require  the  fullest  freedom  of 
manipulation,  the  more  earnestly  do  we  deprecate 
the  weakening  of  that  which  is  characteristic  in 
the  Christian  type  and  the  softening  of  any  of  its 
facts,  and  the  more  decisively  do  we  withstand 
that  vague  and  misty  kind  of  thought  so  prevalent 

8s 


WHAT  IS  CHRISTIANITY? 

to-day,  which  robs  Christianity  of  all  its  negating 
and  resisting  elements,  reducing  even  its  positive 
statements  to  the  mildest  commonplace.  The 
Christian  type  of  life  is  rich  in  negations  which  as 
yet  we  are  far  from  being  able  to  dispense  with. 
Its  unconditional  advocacy  of  the  claims  of  the 
Spiritual  Life  implies  the  most  vigorous  repudiation 
of  all  naturalism,  whether  of  the  crasser  or  more 
refined  kind,  and  the  championing  of  freedom 
in  the  teeth  of  all  attempts  to  turn  life  into  a 
merely  natural  process.  Its  conviction  of  the 
wide  gulf — nay,  diametrical  opposition — between 
the  condition  of  the  world  and  the  imperative  re- 
quirements of  the  Spiritual  Life,  is  in  itself  a  most 
decisive  repudiation  of  Pantheism  with  its  glorifi- 
cation of  the  world,  and  at  the  same  time  a  re 
pudiation  of  all  those  movements,  such  as  Intel- 
lectualism,  iEstheticism,  and  so  on,  which  ignore 
the  necessity  for  an  inward  change.  Finally,  its 
proclamation  of  a  world-wide  revolution  through 
spiritual  might  and  redeeming  love  involves  the 
utter  casting-out  of  all  embittered  pessimism  and 
despairing  scepticism.  With  its  focusing  of  all 
its  convictions  into  a  Yes  or  a  No,  Christianity 
gives  certitude  to  the  whole  life,  setting  the  work 
of  thought  on  a  safe  path  and  assigning  it  a 
clearly-marked  goal.  We  need  have  no  fear  that, 
by  basing  our  conviction  on  the  actual  content  of 
life,  w'e  shall  be  surrendering  ourselves  to  a  vague 
indefiniteness,  or  shall  find  that  there  is  too  little 
for  us  to  do. 


86 


LIMITATIONS  OF  CRITICISM 

In  the  brief  time  still  at  our  disposal  we  can  do 
no  more  than  touch  on  a  few  main  points,  seeking 
to  show  how  the  greatness  and  strength  of  the 
Christian  life  tower  conspicuous  in  history,  and 
also  how  its  own  achievements  confirm  its  truth. 
Let  us  look  more  closely  at  the  personality  of  its 
Founder,  at  the  way  in  which  it  has  lifted  the 
religious  problem  into  the  atmosphere  of  a  com- 
mon humanity  instead  of  linking  it  to  the  par- 
ticular destiny  of  a  particular  people,  and  lastly 
at  the  very  real  and  diverse  help  it  has  afforded 
to  every  period  within  which  its  influence  has 
been  felt. 

We  have  already  seen  that  historical  criticism 
has  thrown  doubt  on  certain  important  items  in 
the  traditional  story  of  the  life  of  Jesus,  The 
conviction  grows  upon  us  that  what  our  accounts 
transmit  to  us  is  not  so  much  the  facts  themselves 
as  the  way  in  which  they  were  reflected  in  the 
ideas  and  convictions  of  ensuing  generations. 
Much  that  once  seemed  to  belong  to  the  Master 
himself,  we  now  see  to  have  been  attributed  to 
him  by  the  reverence  of  his  followers  in  the  light 
of  his  subsequent  fate.  But  while  we  must  not 
fail  to  recognise  the  skill  with  which  such  criticism 
can  reshape  its  material,  we  must  also  not  be 
blind  to  its  intrinsic  limitations  :  it  can  elaborate, 
polish  and  transpose ;  it  can  register  its  own 
hopes  and  opinions ;  but  what  it  can  never  do  is 
to  produce  from  its  own  resources  some  essentially 
new  embodiment  of  greatness ;  it  cannot  rise 
to  the  height  of  spiritual  creation.  Thus  we  may 
be  very  uncertain  about  the  precise  relation  in 
which  Jesus  stood  to  Judaism  and  the  Law,  about 

87 


WHAT  IS  CHRISTIANITY? 

the  conception  he  hunself  formed  of  his  own 
position  and  task,  about  his  own  view  of  his  future 
and  the  future  fate  of  his  work.  It  may  be,  too, 
that  the  gospel-writers  have  allowed  the  last 
scene  to  work  itself  too  much  into  the  early  part 
of  the  story,  suffusing  the  whole  with  its  own 
peculiar  colouring.  But  there  is  more  in  their 
accounts  than  this,  nor  are  these  questions  of 
primary  importance  for  a  spiritual  Christianity. 
What  the  gospels  really  disclose  to  us  is  a  quite 
unique  form  of  spirituality,  an  unparalleled  type 
of  psychical  and  spiritual  life.  It  is  not  simply 
that  certain  doctrines  are  preached,  or  that  certain 
emotional  chords  are  struck.  Rather  it  is  this, 
that  we  are  face  to  face  with  a  new  kind  of  life 
and  being,  in  which  all  diversity  is  controlled 
and  shaped  by  one  dominating  feature,  namely, 
a  unique  relation  to  God.  Now  how  are  we  to 
explain  the  rise  of  this  type  ?  Through  a  mere 
conjunction  of  the  opinions  and  sentiments  of 
later  generations  ?  As  a  deposit  precipitated  from 
certedn  mass-movements  that  can  be  reckoned 
up  in  a  purely  mechanical  manner  ?  We  can 
maintain  this  view  only  if  by  a  great  thing  we 
mean  nothing  more  than  a  collection  of  small 
things,  thereby  renouncing  our  inner  unity  and 
sacrificing  that  which  is  most  characteristic  and 
distinctive  in  our  nature.  If  then  we  cannot 
escape  the  necessity  of  postulating  something  that 
is  primarily  great,  some  single  outpouring  of 
creative  energy,  we  must  assume,  near  that  which 
we  have  hitherto  honoured  as  great  though  now 
we  dispute  its  prerogative,  the  presence  of  a 
previously  unknown  greatness,  a  hidden  star 
88 


PERSONAL  GREATNESS 

which  reflects  its  radiance  back  on  to  this  other 
secondary  orb.  But  how  could  such  greatness 
remain  hidden,  and  would  it  not  be  a  still  more 
puzzling  riddle  than  that  which  it  was  intended  to 
solve  ? 

There  is,  however,  another  possible  solution, 
which  consists  not  so  much  in  contesting  the  trust- 
worthiness of  the  accounts  as  in  denying  that  they 
bring  forward  anything  that  is  plainly  original, 
or  that  they  betoken  a  complete  revolution.  It  is 
asserted  that  the  thought- world  of  Jesus  possesses 
scarcely  anything  that  is  whoUy  new  and  startling, 
that  historical  research  is  constantly  discovering 
some  fresh  agreement  between  his  teaching  and 
that  of  the  Greek  and  Jewish  thinkers  who  lived 
at  the  same  time  or  immediately  preceding  him. 
The  content  of  his  thought,  we  are  told,  could 
only  seem  new  and  surprising  so  long  as  the 
error  was  made  of  comparing  it  with  that 
of  the  older  Greece  or  the  older  Judaism  in- 
stead of  with  the  Greek  and  Jewish  thought  of 
his  own  age. 

Such  considerations  are  not  unfounded ;  but 
whether  they  are  to  be  allowed  to  determine  our 
decision  is  another  question.  From  the  point  of 
view  they  represent,  that  which  is  revered  as 
great  would  be  but  the  mere  combination  of 
already  existing  elements.  But  how  did  it 
chance  that  this  or  any  other  combination  was 
so  Sstrong  as  to  produce  such  effects  as  were 
here  produced  ?  How  could  it  become  the 
starting-point  of  a  movement  so  powerful  as 
to  lift  the  world  out  of  its  grooves  and  guide 
it  into  new  paths  ? 

89 


WHAT  IS  CHRISTIANITY? 

The  problem  that  meets  us  here  is  but  the  cul- 
mination of  a  larger  problem,  to  wit,  how  great 
spiritual  productions — or  shall  we  say  creations  ? 
— are  in  general  related  to  their  environment. 
The  answer  to  this  question  depends  far  less  on 
isolated  observations  than  on  our  fundamental 
attitude  towards  the  Spiritual  Life.  He  who  does 
not  allow  to  this  Life  any  independence,  but  brings 
it  into  line  with  all  other  processes,  will  see  nothing 
more  than  a  difference  of  degree  between  these 
great  achievements  and  the  average  life  of  every 
day.  But  that  this  failure  to  recognise  the  inde- 
pendence of  the  Spiritual  Life  implies  a  renuncia- 
tion of  all  truth  that  transcends  human  opinion, 
and  delivers  man  up  defenceless  to  a  destructive 
relativity,  we  have  already  convinced  ourselves 
in  the  course  of  our  previous  discussion.  He, 
however,  who  admits  the  independence,  whose 
eye  is  quick  to  discern  the  hall-mark  of  greatness, 
cannot  have  any  doubt  as  to  the  gulf  that  sepa- 
rates it  from  the  average  level  of  the  environment. 
For  it  completely  reverses  the  ordinary  condition 
of  affairs.  What  is  there  a  mere  appendage 
to  a  different  order  of  events  is  here  apprehended 
and  treated  as  an  end  in  itself.  What  in  ordinary 
life  was  always  confusedly  blent  with  something 
else  that  was  alien  to  it,  succeeds  here  in  giving 
clear  and  strong  expression  to  its  own  nature. 
Whereas  there  its  effectiveness  was  strictly  con- 
fined to  the  point  at  which  it  made  its  appearance, 
here  its  stimulating,  moulding  power  is  unlimited ; 
from  its  central  position  it  can  transform  the 
whole  world  of  thought,  and  lift  life  on  to  a  new 
level.  When  then  the  cold-blooded  observer 
90 


RELIGIOUS  GREATNESS 

comes  up,  and,  taking  the  ideas  one  by  one,  in- 
dustriously ferrets  out  the  proof  that  it  is  often, 
nay,  usually  possible,  to  point  out,  in  earlier 
thinkers,  utterances  that  recall  or  even  coincide 
with  these  ideas,  does  this  make  any  difference 
to  the  main  fact  ?  Does  not  the  apparent  rap- 
prochement itself  show  up  more  fully  than  ever 
before  the  superlative  quality  of  greatness,  the 
distinctive  character  of  the  synthesis  it  effects, 
the  unique  stamp  that  it  impresses  on  everything, 
giving  significance  even  to  the  smallest  details, 
the  driving-force  with  which  it  vitalises  the  whole 
inert  environment  ?  We  can  point  to  many  of 
the  Kantian  ideas  as  already  familiar  to  the 
Enlightenment  of  the  eighteenth  century,  but, 
despite  the  outward  approximation,  how  remote 
they  are  in  this  setting  from  the  inward  meaning 
of  Kant  !  And  how  different  is  the  effectiveness 
of  single  ideas  according  as  they  work  side  by 
side  with  others,  or  become  the  moving  and  con- 
trolling power  of  a  whole  system  !  Twelve  hundred 
years  before  Descartes,  Augustine  had  already 
conceived  the  idea  that  the  individual's  certainty 
as  to  the  existence  of  his  own  Ego  was  the  starting- 
point  of  all  certainty,  but  with  Augustine  this 
was  simply  a  sporadic  suggestion  ;  with  Descartes 
it  introduces  a  revolution  in  philosophy,  and  not 
only  in  philosophy,  but  in  the  whole  method  and 
manner  of  thought  and  life.  It  is  the  amount  of 
spiritual  force  put  into  the  ideas  that  makes  the 
difference. 

And  what  is  true  for  all  departments  of  spiri- 
tual activity  is  true  in  a  very  special  way  for 
religion.     For  whenever  religion  is  taken  in  the 

91 


WHAT  IS  CHRISTIANITY? 

strict  and  genuine  sense  which  its  true  nature  de- 
mands, it  finds  itself  diverging  widely  from  the 
average  life,  nay,  directly  contradicting  it.  The 
unseen  world  is  for  this  life  a  remote  realm  only 
deducible  by  a  toilsome  process  of  inference,  yet 
it  can  never  be  truly  real  to  man  unless  it  be  im- 
mediately present  and  in  the  closest  possible 
relation  to  him.  The  average  man  regards  it  as 
a  mere  means  to  human  ends,  such  as  the  advance- 
ment of  our  personal  happiness,  the  power  to 
rule  our  fellows  and  so  on ;  yet  it  is  always  mere 
shadow  and  illusion  unless  it  succeeds  in  winning 
our  interest  for  goods  which  have  a  quite  different 
scale  of  value,  goods  which  may  be  directly  harm- 
ful to  our  merely  human  well-being.  Thus  it  is 
always  a  great  and  marvellous  achievement  when 
any  one  succeeds  in  bringing  this  conversion  about, 
in  making  the  invisible  world  credible,  convincing, 
constraining  to  man,  giving  it  such  overwhelming 
simplicity  and  nearness  that  he  finds  in  it  his 
truest  nature,  and  can  live  and  die  for  it.  It  is 
only  an  individual  here  and  there  who  has  effected 
such  a  change.  What  to  others  was  faintly  out- 
lined by  longing  and  reflection  became  to  such  an 
one  the  surest  of  all  realities ;  thus  he  and  he 
alone  could  prepare  new  paths  for  the  community 
as  a  whole.  That  Jesus  did  so  work  for  Christianity, 
that  he  made  the  impossible  possible,  real  and 
necessary,  is  beyond  all  doubt.  The  closer  speci- 
fication of  the  basis  on  which  we  conceive  this 
work  to  have  rested  is  here  uncalled  for.  We  may 
refer  the  reader  to  our  discussion  of  it  in  the 
"  Problem  of  Human  Life."  Here  we  are  con- 
cerned with  the  life  and  being  of  Jesus  only  as  it 
92 


BREADTH  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

furnishes  a  convincing  practical  proof  of  the  truth 
and  power  of  the  Christian  hfe.  It  is  our  study  of 
him  that  enables  us  to  understand  how  peculiarly 
fitted  this  life  is  to  produce  personalities  in  the 
highest  sense  of  the  term,  personalities  that  are  self- 
reliant  and  can  overcome  the  world,  while  at  the 
same  time  they  are  borne  up  by  the  living  pre- 
sence of  an  inner  world,  and  thus  securely  kept  ' 
from  presumptuous  pride. 


To  proceed  to  the  second  point.  Historical 
Christianity  shows  a  capacity  far  exceeding  that 
of  any  other  religion  for  detaching  the  religious 
problem  from  its  setting  in  the  life  of  one  par- 
ticular nationality ;  and  this,  not  in  the  interest 
of  an  abstract  humanity  after  the  fashion  of  the 
Enlightenment,  but  in  the  service  of  a  universal 
spiritual  principle  and  method  which  can  turn  the 
idiosyncrasies  of  the  different  nations  to  the  noblest 
uses,  and,  from  the  vantage-ground  of  a  higher 
standpoint,  strives  to  bring  this  diversity  to- 
gether, and  find  some  way  of  adjusting  the  differ- 
ent claims.  Consequently  Christianity,  more  than 
any  other  religion,  seems  to  be  the  concern  and 
product  of  the  whole  of  humanity  rather  than  of 
one  particular  part  of  it.  Even  those  of  the  other 
religions  which  do  make  their  appeal  to  the 
whole  of  humanity,  and  not  merely  to  one  special 
nation,  are  yet  far  more  influenced  by  the  national 
peculiarities  of  the  people  with  whom  they  origin- 
ated ;  and  even  when  they  extend  their  borders 
they  still  retain  the  typical  features  of  their  own 

93 


WHAT  IS  CHRISTIANITY? 

original  habitat.  It  is  scarcely  possible  to  forget 
the  Indian  origin  of  Buddhism,  the  Arabian 
origin  of  Mohammedanism,  Christianity,  on  the 
other  hand,  so  far  as  the  main  branch  of  it  is  con- 
cerned, was  soon  transplanted  from  its  Jewish 
home  to  Greek  and  then  to  Roman  soil.  Thus 
from  a  very  early  date  it  had  absorbed  both 
Semitic  and  Indogermanic  traits — traits  which 
embody  certain  distinct  fundamental  tendencies 
of  human  life  and  aspiration.  The  Semitic  type 
is  characterised  by  strenuous  concentration  along 
one  particular  line.  Its  development  centred 
round  the  moral  problem  and  the  stern  demands 
of  the  moral  law.  It  was  really  the  moral  im- 
perative which,  in  a  religious  setting,  assumed 
ascendancy  over  all  other  requirements,  and  re- 
duced them  all  to  a  position  of  little  moment.  On 
the  Indogermanic  side,  as  represented  mainly  by 
the  Greeks  in  opposition  to  Christianity,  the  ex- 
pansive impulse  was  much  more  strongly  felt. 
The  Greeks  were  occupied  in  the  objective  task 
of  building  up  a  realm  of  culture  and  exploring 
impartially  all  the  possibilities  of  human  nature. 
The  fusion  of  these  two  tendencies  in  Christianity 
gave  rise  to  much  tension  and  many  complica- 
tions. It  has  often  happened  that  the  two  currents 
have  crossed  and  obstructed  each  other.  But  the 
dual  influence  has  been,  notwithstanding,  a  great 
stimulus  to  the  Christian  life.  The  inclusion  of 
these  opposites,  which  seem  to  shun  each  other, 
but  in  the  end  must  seek  each  other,  gave  it  a 
breadth  and  nobility  hitherto  unknown.  We 
cannot  then  accuse  Christianity  of  being  untrue  to 
its  own  nature  when  it  absorbed  and  assimilated 

94 


SEMITIC  AND  INDOGERMANIC 

the  Greek  spirit,  and  especially  Greek  science  and 
Greek  art.  The  only  doubtful  point  lay  in  the  fact 
that  it  often  absorbed  these  influences  indiscrimi- 
nately, without  sufficiently  testing  them  by  refer- 
ence to  its  own  fundamental  principles,  and  so 
effecting  a  proper  adjustment ;  it  did  not  under- 
stand how  to  give  full  expression  to  its  own  in- 
dividuality as  opposed  to  the  foreign  elements  it 
was  assimilating.  But  never  can  we  contend  that 
it  should  have  avoided  these  wider  problems 
altogether,  and  never  can  we  make  it  our  duty  to 
weed  out  these  elements  of  culture  as  products  of 
degeneration,  and  bring  Christianity  back  to  its 
pristine  state,  which,  moreover,  can  never  be 
restored.  Should  we  attempt  any  such  change 
as  this,  we  should  only  endanger  the  universal 
character  of  Christianity,  and,  in  the  true  spirit  of 
sectarianism,  turn  it  into  a  support  and  comfort 
for  the  mere  individual. 

How  deeply  this  racial  contrast  has  made  itself 
felt  in  the  sphere  of  religion,  how  important  are 
the  problems  which  arise  from  the  merging  of 
these  various  tendencies,  is  shown  very  strikingly 
in  the  manner  of  conceiving  the  Godhead.  The 
Semites  conceive  of  the  Divine  mainly  in  oppo- 
sition to  the  world — as  the  Sublime,  the  Un- 
approachable Being  Who  commands  our  rever- 
ence. Here  there  is  no  familiar  nearness.  Even 
the  Divine  name  must  be  used  with  the  utmost 
caution.  Any  immediate  contact  of  human  and 
Divine  is  far  indeed  from  Semitic  thought.  The 
transcendent  view  of  religion  was  here  decidedly 
predominant.  The  Indogermanic  peoples,  on 
the  contrary,  bring  the  Divine  into  the  closest 


WHAT  IS  CHRISTIANITY? 

possible  connexion  with  the  world ;  they  view  it 
as  belonging  to  the  world  and  inseparable  from  it. 
There  is  only  one  world,  including  both  the  Divine 
and  that  which  is  outside  it.  Thus  the  primary 
religious  task  is  to  bring  human  and  Divine  into 
closest  possible  relation.  Greek  and  Hindu  alike 
do  not  hesitate  to  represent  the  Divine  as  clothing 
itself  in  human  form  and  holding  converse  with 
man.  A  higher  stage  of  this  same  unifying  move- 
ment is  seen  in  mysticism,  which  finds  its  home 
on  Indogermanic  soil.  Here  it  is  the  immanental 
tendency  that  is  dominant.  Christianity  has 
absorbed  both  tendencies,  the  transcendental  and 
the  immanental :  on  the  one  hand,  it  has  exalted 
the  Divine  high  above  the  world,  stoutly  with- 
standing as  derogatory  to  the  Divine  dignity  any 
attempt  to  lower  it  by  blending  it  with  the  human. 
The  struggles  of  the  early  centuries  illustrate  this 
attitude  very  clearly.  But,  on  the  other  hand, 
Christianity  has  actually  permitted  this  world- 
transcending  Divinity  to  enter  the  world  in  all 
the  fulness  of  its  nature,  and,  through  love  and 
grace,  has  made  it  one  with  man's  own  being. 
The  double  movement  is  undoubtedly  fraught 
with  grave  dangers;  and  convictions" that  can  be 
true  and  forceful  only  when  springing  from  a  free, 
spontaneous  life  have  often  been  frozen  into 
dogmatic  formulas.  But  yet,  the  realisation  of  the 
contrast,  the  fact  that  the  Divine,  immeasurable 
and  transcendent  as  it  was,  could  be  at  the  same 
time  the  most  intimate  and  personal  factor  in  our 
experience,  gave  rise  to  a  movement  of  exhaust- 
less  promise.  It  made  all  life  d3mamic,  and  the 
whole  framework  of  reality  in  the  light  of  this 

96 


THE  GERMANIC  RACES 

context  is  seen  to  rest  on  the  twin  pillars  of  Free- 
dom and  Personal  Deed. 

The  rise  to  independence  of  the  Germanic  race 
towards  the  close  of  the  Middle  Ages  forced 
Christianity  to  face  a  yet  wider  problem.  So  far, 
it  had  had  to  deal  with  mature  or  even  senescent 
civilisations  ;  but  now  a  new  type  began  to  press 
its  claim,  a  people  in  all  the  freshness  of  its  early 
youth,  whose  spiritual  individuality  was  becoming 
ever  more  definitely  marked  ;  a  people,  moreover, 
presenting  many  points  of  superiority:  greater 
depth  and  tenderness  of  feeling,  more  truth  and 
inwardness  in  the  soul's  relation  to  God,  a  stronger 
desire  for  a  freer  individual  development,  a  bound- 
less seriousness  of  personal  conviction.  With  the 
fusion  of  all  these  qualities  to  form  a  general  type, 
claiming  an  independent  existence,  it  became 
impossible  to  avoid  serious  struggles  with  the 
older  Order,  whose  true  greatness  lay  in  its  or- 
ganising power,  whether  applied  to  the  life  of  the 
community  or  to  the  universe  of  thought.  These 
struggles  have  ended  by  destroying  for  an  in- 
definite period  ahead  the  outward  unity  of  the 
Church,  and  they  still  stir  up  passionate  feeling. 
In  the  end,  however,  Christianity  still  exists  as 
a  whole,  despite  all  schisms,  and  the  whole  even 
reaps  the  advantage  of  what,  from  the  point  of 
view  of  the  part,  must  be  reckoned  as  a  loss.  For 
what  is  it  that  makes  Christianity  before  all  else 
a  religion  for  the  whole  of  mankind  ?  Is  it  not 
its  power  to  attract  to  itself  the  diverse  aspirations 
of  different  races  and  nations,  and  focus  them  all 
upon  one  common  task  ?  In  this  way  due  recog- 
nition is  given  to  the  spiritual  individuality  of 

H  97 


WHAT  IS  CHRISTIANITY? 

each,  though  not  without  purifying  and  trans- 
forming it.  Thus  the  whole  is  raised  to  an  essen- 
tially higher  level,  and  Freedom  triumphs  over 
all  that  is  merely  natural. 

He  who  views  this  superiority  to  all  merely 
racial  distinctions  as  a  special  mark  of  greatness 
in  Christianity  must  decisively  reject  all  modem 
attempts  to  connect  Christianity  closely  with  a  par- 
ticular race,  and  to  value  it  as  the  highest  expression 
of  the  idiosyncrasy  of  this  race.  It  should  be  clear, 
in  the  light  of  what  we  have  said,  that  such 
attempts  must  tend  to  distort  the  truth  and  to 
degrade  the  spiritual  to  the  level  of  the  natural. 
The  natural  disposition  has  value  even  for  religion, 
a  value  given  it  by  spiritual  work ;  but  only  in 
so  far  as  the  latter  succeeds  in  transplanting  it 
to  the  soil  of  freedom  and  inwardly  uplifting  it. 
Let  all  rejoice  that  Christianity  treats  religion  as 
the  common  concern  of  all  mankind,  and  let  us 
not  seek  to  draw  it  away  from  this  lofty  stand- 
point, which  was  only  too  hardly  won,  and  will 
ever  have  to  be  contended  for  anew. 


The  same  universality  that  Christianity  display's 
in  regard  to  different  races  and  nationalities  is 
also  shown  in  its  attitude  towards  different  epochs, 
and  in  the  influence  it  exerts  on  them.  To  each  of 
these  epochs  it  has  made  its  specific  contribution, 
and  it  has  ministered  to  the  most  vital  aspirations 
of  each  one  of  them.  Nor  were  the  gains  which  it 
helped  to  win  all  expended  at  the  time  :  they  still 
affect  us  as  a  permanent  problem  and  incentive. 
98 


INFLUENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

Thus  history,  in  this  light,  does  not  present  itself 
as  a  succession  of  different  phases,  one  displacing 
the  other,  but  rather  as  a  revelation  of  tendencies 
and  truths  which  are  simultaneously  compatible, 
and,  taken  together,  form  a  present  that  does  not 
vanish  with  the  passing  moment.  On  this  view, 
history  is  no  mere  past. 

The  Christianity  of  the  first  centuries  gave  firm 
support  and  inner  coherence  to  a  decadent  and 
perishing  humanity.  It  found  a  race  grown  dull 
and  weary,  and  wakened  it  to.  fresh  zest  in  life  ; 
it  opened  up  to  it  new  problems,  filled  it  with  new 
hopes  and  even  with  a  proud  consciousness  of  its 
own  destiny.  In  the  great  Deluge  that  swept 
mankind.  Religion  became  the  sheltering  ark, 
and,  like  the  rainbow  in  the  old  tale,  the  Cross 
now  became  the  sign  of  conciliation  to  a  distressed 
humanity.  The  Middle  Ages  saw  the  rise  of  new 
nations  and  the  growth  of  a  new  humanity.  Life 
assumed  an  educational  aspect  that  was  often 
strict  and  harsh  ;  the  preservation  of  an  inviolable 
order  outweighed  in  importance  all  other  aims. 
Even  the  thought- world  was  stably  organised  : 
under  the  guidance  of  religion  all  departments  of 
life  were  knit  together  into  a  single  whole.  This 
dispensation  strikes  us  to-day  as  too  rigid  and 
narrow,  and  the  direct  suzerainty  exercised  by 
religion  was  to  no  one  more  harmful  than  to 
religion  itself.  But  resist  as  we  may  the  mediaeval 
solution,  we  ought  not  to  blind  ourselves  to  the 
fact  that  it  not  only  corresponded  to  the  needs  of 
its  own  day,  but  that,  in  systematising  the  various 
departments  of  life  and  effecting  the  organisation 
of  humanity,   it  was  engaged  in   a  problem  of 

99 


WHAT  IS  CHRISTIANITY? 

abiding  significance,  a  problem  which  has  special 
value  for  us,  in  view  of  the  growing  disintegration 
of  spiritual  life  in  our  midst.  It  is  worth  noting 
that  this  is  the  precise  problem  which  leading 
thinkers  of  the  nineteenth  century — men  like 
Hegel  and  Comte — have  again  brought  into  the 
foreground.  Towards  the  close  of  the  Middle  Ages 
a  longing  for  the  complete  independence  of  the 
inward  life  began  to  play  a  dominant  part.  It 
did  not  confine  itself  to  religion,  and  was,  indeed, 
often  hostile  to  it,  but  even  within  the  limits  of 
Christianity  it  met  with  response  to  its  appeal. 
In  the  Reformation  it  gave  a  strong  impetus  to 
the  Christian  life,  indirectly  affecting  also  the 
older  Church,  and  detaching  from  it  in  spirit 
even  those  whose  outward  allegiance  to  the  medi- 
aeval thought- world  remained  unshaken.  Still 
more  throughout  the  modem  period  has  Chris- 
tianity become  a  personal  religion  instead  of 
an  ecclesiastical  order.  The  idea  of  personality 
itself,  however,  has  been  deepened  and  conse- 
crated through  religion,  as  it  hardly  could  have 
been  in  any  other  way. 

The  main  tendency  of  our  own  age,  with  its 
steadily  growing  spirit  of  independence,  has  come 
into  ever  sharper  conflict  with  Christianity.  That 
it  had  a  stronger  vitality  and  made  existence 
more  dependent  on  man's  own  activity,  would 
not  necessarily  have  conduced  to  this  result. 
The  irreparable  breach  was  due  to  the  fact  that 
for  modern  thought  the  activity  and  the  positive 
trend  of  life  were  conceived  as  man's  own  imme- 
diate work,  as  the  outcome  of  his  own  natural 
strength,  whereas  Christianity  regarded  them  as 


INFLUENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

emanating  from  man's  relation  to  God  through  an 
inward  renewal  of  his  being  :  its  affirmation  of 
life  is  not  direct,  but  is  only  reached  through 
negation  and  inward  change.  We  must  beware 
of  weakening  in  any  way  this  opposition  between 
the  Christian  and  the  modern  points  of  view — an 
opposition  so  strong  as  absolutely  to  preclude 
any  prospect  of  easy  reconciliation.  Certain 
though  it  may  be  that  the  final  synthesis  of  life 
will  somehow  transcend  it,  the  first  condition  for 
this  consummation  is  the  frank  recognition  of 
the  problem,  the  rejection  of  every  attempt  to 
belittle  it  or  cover  it  up.  But  even  amid  the  con- 
flict Christianity  has  substantially  helped  the 
Modern  World :  over  against  the  eager  anxiety 
to  be  busy  and  prosperous,  it  has  revealed  an  un- 
troubled depth  of  life.  It  has  confronted  our 
easy  optimism  and  enthusiasm  for  culture  with 
a  reminder  of  the  limitations  and  complications  of 
human  existence  ;  in  addition  it  has  steadfastly 
resisted  the  secularisation  of  life,  the  tendency  to 
lapse  into  a  worldly  and  ephemeral  culture.  It 
is  no  mere  disposition  to  condone  existing  arrange- 
ments that  has  made  almost  all  great  modern 
thinkers,  while  reserving  to  themselves  complete 
independence  of  conviction,  try  to  find  some 
positive  relation  with  Christianity,  seeking  it, 
for  the  most  part,  in  the  most  vital  part  of  their 
system.  Thus  even  in  opposing  modern  thought, 
Christianity  has  not  ceased  to  exert  on  it  an  im- 
portant influence. 

Still,  an  opposition  rooted  so  deep  in  the 
nature  of  life,  and  drawing  it  in  contrary  direc- 
tions,   could    not    possibly   continue     or    ever ; 


WHAT  IS  CHRISTIANITY? 

tendencies  in  our  human  environment,  which  at 
the  outset  may  be  fairly  compatible,  are  driven  in 
the  end,  by  the  sheer  necessities  of  the  case,  into 
ever  sharper  cleavage.  The  more  conscious  we 
become  of  it,  the  more  do  all  the  considerations 
which  are  adverse  to  the  distinctively  Christian 
type  gain  in  effectiveness.  Christianity  finds  her- 
self at  a  crisis  which  is  deeper-reaching  and  more 
dangerous  than  any  she  has  faced  before  in  the 
whole  course  of  her  history.  For  it  is  not  this  or 
that  element  of  her  composition  that  is  called  in 
question,  but  the  whole  structure  of  her  life  and 
being. 

It  is  not  a  single  line  of  attack,  but  the  simul- 
taneous approach  along  different  lines  that  makes 
the  whole  situation  so  tense  and  dramatic.  We 
have  already  seen  that  since  the  time  when  the 
ecclesiastical  form  of  Christianity  was  finally  fixed, 
the  profoundest  changes  have  taken  place  alike 
in  the  world  and  the  prevailing  temper  of  life. 
But  Christianity  is  far  from  having  come  con- 
clusively to  terms  with  these  changes,  far  from 
having  raised  above  their  ebb  and  flow  the  im- 
perishable truth  that  is  in  her.  The  present  form 
of  Christianity  often  presents  this  truth  in  the 
sorriest  guise,  so  that  it  may  even  seem  to  be 
obstructive  and  out  of  sympathy  with  that  tem- 
poral phase  of  the  Spiritual  Life  that  is  even  now 
unfolding.  The  situation,  moreover,  is  compli- 
cated by  the  fact  that  problems  such  as  these  do 
not  admit  of  being  put  aside  as  though  they  were 
the  mere  product  of  man's  arbitrary  caprice. 

But  it  is  not  so  much  the  actual  substance  of 
these  changes  which  makes  them  dangerous  to 


OPPOSITION  TO  MODERN  THOUGHT 

the  vital  truth  of  religion.  It  is  rather  the  whole 
modern  tendency  that  is  bound  up  with  them, 
and  indeed  so  closely  that  it  is  often  impossible 
to  say  where  the  one  ends  and  the  other  begins. 
We  refer  here  to  the  immanental  way  of  thinking 
which  does  not  recognise  any  fundamental  con- 
tradictions in  our  world  of  Reality,  and  believes 
that  within  the  sphere  of  our  own  life  it  can  find 
a  solution  for  all  the  problems  that  may  present 
themselves.  This  way  of  thinking  is  absolutely 
incompatible  with  a  religion  such  as  Christianity ; 
not  only  must  it  break  up  and  destroy  religion  in 
its  historical  forms,  it  must  even  abolish  all  need 
for  religion.  But  it  is  precisely  this  mode  of 
thought  which  has  been  asserting  itself  more  and 
more  strongly  through  our  whole  modern  period  : 
the  main  phases  in  its  development  coincide  with 
the  main  steps  in  the  inner  movement  of  the 
modern  world.  The  Renaissance  held  firm  by 
the  mediaeval  belief  in  the  transcendence  of  God, 
but  it  differed  from  mediaevalism  in  that  it  sought 
to  establish  a  closer  connexion  between  the 
Divine  transcendence  and  the  world  of  immediate 
reality  which  was  thereby  to  gain  fresh  lustre  and 
glory.  The  Pantheism  of  the  following  centuries 
drew  the  Divine  right  down  into  the  world,  and 
sought  to  blend  the  two  into  an  inseparable  unity. 
Finally  the  Positivism  and  Agnosticism  of  the 
nineteenth  century  claimed  all  man's  strength 
and  interest  for  his  immediate  existence  in  nature 
and  society,  and  relegated  the  world  of  Faith  to 
an  unknown  Beyond,  degrading  it  even  to  a  mere 
tissue  of  illusions.  Thus  as  the  movement  has 
developed,  religion  has  grown  more  and  more  dim, 
103 


WHAT  IS  CHRISTIANITY? 

till  at  last  it  would  seem  to  have  vanished  alto* 
gether. 

All  this,  bolstered  up  by  the  feeling  of  an  age 
that  is  eminently  self-conscious,  is  dangerous 
enongh  to  religion.  But  its  directly  unsettling 
effect  to-day  is  due  largely  to  its  alliance  with  the 
social  movements  and  displacements  of  the  time. 
These  social  upheavals  are  unearthing  the  lower 
layers  that  form  the  broad  basis  of  society,  and 
bringing  them  to  the  surface.  The  masses  are 
being  called  on  to  judge  for  themselves  concerning 
the  ultimate  questions  of  life  and  the  world.  But 
for  the  most  part  they  have  not  been  very  vitally 
affected  either  by  religion  or  by  any  other  form 
of  spiritual  activity ;  they  are  inclined  to  think 
that  religion  represents  the  interest,  not  of  man- 
kind, but  of  certain  privileged  classes.  They  know 
nothing  of  those  mighty,  soul-stirring  movements 
of  history  when  men  of  all  classes  hungered  and 
thirsted  after  religion.  Moreover,  in  their  growing 
consciousness  of  power  and  their  increjisingly 
clear  perception  of  their  own  goal,  they  incline  to 
an  immediate  affirmation  of  the  good  of  life  that 
is  in  direct  contradiction  to  religion.  Is  it  any 
wonder  if  the  spirit  of  denial  is  here  victorious, 
and  that  this  current  of  human  life  should  deem 
religion  a  mere  survival  from  bygone  and  for- 
gotten times  ? 

All  this  puts  the  cause  of  religion,  as  regards  its 
whole  present  position  among  mankind,  on  a  highly 
unfavourable  footing.  If  the  ultimate  decision 
depended  on  its  position  here,  the  cause  might 
well  seem  doomed.  He,  however,  who  agrees  with 
us  in  acknowledging  an  independence  of  the 
104 


STEADFASTNESS  OF  RELIGION 

Spiritucil  Life,  and  measures  all  man's  effort  and 
opinion  in  the  light  of  it,  cannot  yield  himself  un- 
critically to  even  the  strongest  wave  of  popular 
feeling.  He  will  be  obliged  to  test  its  claims  and 
its  limits  by  reference  to  what  is  permanent  in  the 
Spiritual  Life,  and  by  appealing  to  the  fundamental 
relation  of  man  to  reality.  Here  we  are  greeted 
with  such  far-reaching  complications  that  the 
anti-religious  tendencies  of  the  last  centuries  can 
only  be  regarded  as  a  passing  episode.  Whoever 
recognises  in  the  Spiritual  Life  the  revelation  of 
a  new  stage  of  Reality,  and  at  the  same  time 
fathoms  the  extent  of  the  gulf,  the  sharpness  of 
the  contrast,  between  the  average  condition  of 
humanity  and  that  which  the  Spiritual  Life  re- 
quires of  it,  will  either  yield  completely  to  the 
forces  of  denial  and  negation,  or  will  come  back 
again  and  yet  again  to  religion.  The  same  is  true 
of  humanity  as  a  whole,  and  we  may  legitimately 
expect  that  the  more  pronounced  and  deliberate 
is  the  tendency  to  give  life  a  positive  value  on 
purely  natural  grounds  without  going  beyond 
man's  own  resources,  the  stronger  and  more  sincere 
will  be  the  recognition  of  the  limitations  of  all 
that  is  merely  natural,  and  the  longing  to  be 
caught  up  into  the  sweep  of  a  wider  life.  So  far 
as  the  tendencies  of  the  age  have  no  objective 
truth  behind  them,  they  live  themselves  out  and 
easily  veer  round  to  the  opposite  point  of  the 
compass.  Thus  in  regard  to  the  religious  problem, 
also,  we  can  trust  quietly  to  the  inner  necessities 
of  man's  nature. 

But'  we  do  not  need  to  put  our  hope  solely  in 
the  future.    Even  in  our  own  day  there  is  growing 
los 


WHAT  IS  CHRISTIANITY? 

evidence  to  show  that  a  new  temper  and  aspira- 
tion are  gaining  ground.  It  is  true  that  to  all 
appearance  the  current  still  runs  hard  against 
religion,  but  it  becomes  increasingly  clear  that 
this  current  does  not  embrace  man's  whole  exist- 
ence, and  that  it  is,  indeed,  being  directly  counter- 
acted by  an  undercurrent  of  a  totally  different 
kind.  In  the  fundamental  relation  of  man  to  the 
world,  in  the  fundamental  emotions  of  life,  there 
are  quasi-molecular  changes  at  work  which  are 
undermining  the  present  position  and  preparing 
the  way  for  drastic  alterations  in  our  whole  exist- 
ing order.  Outwardly  imperceptible  as  such 
movements  are,  they  are  yet  the  strongest  force 
in  our  existence.  It  is  they  that  are  determining 
the  ends  that  shall  control  life's  effort,  the  stan- 
dards from  which  all  experience  will  take  its 
value.  They  are  the  source  of  a  far  more  original 
and  spontaneous  energy  than  all  worldly  vie\NS 
and  society  aims  can  produce  ;  for  that  which  is 
here  at  stake  is  nothing  less  than  the  very^  heart 
"  oT  our  being,  our  chance  of  winning  a  true  life, 
the  question  of  a  spiritual  To  be  or  not  to  be. 
It  was  on  the  reef  of  such  inwardch  anges  that 
the  splendid  civilisations  of  olden  time  were 
wrecked  ;  and  should  our  modem  civilisation  defy 
them,  there  cannot  be  the  slightest  doubt  as  to 
who  will  conquer. 

But  such  changes  are  unmistakably  in  pro- 
gress, and  they  are  gaining  strength  visibly.  In 
the  first  place,  the  experiences  of  the  nineteenth 
century  make  us  rnuch  more  keenly  conscious 
than  were  the  epochs  immediately  preceding  it 
of  the  resistance  we  meet  with  in  life,  the  com- 
io6 


REVIVAL  OF  RELIGION  TO-DAY 

plications  of  our  human  lot,  the  inner  contra- 
dictions of  our  nature.  There  is  more  room  for 
the  negative  element,  and  it  exercises  a  far  wider 
infliience  on  our  conception  and  valuation  of  life. 
Even  this  is  sufficient  to  give  quite  another  colour- 
ing to  the  conflict  waged  by  religion  against 
sorrow  and  guilt.  But  this  darker  view  of  exist- 
ence would  not  necessarily  have  produced  an 
inner  revolution  if  only  our  ultimate  goals  had 
stood  intact,  and  a  Reason  at  the  heart  of  things 
had  remained  unquestioned.  An  additional  em- 
phasis on  the  No  matters  little,  provided  that  the 
Yes  still  maintains  its  ascendency.  But  this  is 
no  longer  the  case  to-day.  We  have  become  un- 
certain of  our  main  bearings  ;  we  have  seen  com- 
plications that  throw  doubt  on  all  our  gains 
springing  from  the  very  ends  that  we  were  pur- 
suing with  so  much  fervour.  Our  ideals  them- 
selves are  tottering  to  the  fall.  It  was  with  zest 
and  gladness  that  we  flung  ourselves  into  work, 
but  the  work  gripped  and  held  us  fast  and  threat- 
ened to  make  us  into  its  mere  tools.  In  this  unrest- 
ing output  of  energy,  our  spiritual  immediacy  dis- 
appeared little  by  little,  and  with  it  the  signifi- 
cance of  life.  We  freed  man  from  all  tutelage 
without  and  within  :  we  thought  we  were  giving 
him  an  unimagined  greatness.  But  the  freedom 
spelt  only  severance  from  all  the  inward  con- 
nexions of  Reality,  and  man,  thus  set  upon  his 
own  feet,  though  outwardly  more  imposing,  was 
inwardly  small  and  shrunken.  So  small  is  he,  so 
crying  is  the  disproportion  between  the  problems 
of  the  age  and  his  capacity  to  solve  them,  that 
many  minds  are  looking  with  anxious  longing  for 
107 


WHAT  IS  CHRISTIANITY? 

something  that  will  lift  him  to  a  higher  level.  But 
how  can  this  longing  be  satisfied,  unless  by  linking 
him  to  what  is  deepest  and  most  ultimate  in  the 
universe  ?  Endless  is  the  toil  and  trouble  we 
have  spent  on  the  means  of  life,  on  the  improve- 
ment of  outward  cx)nditions.  We  have  achieved 
much,  but  not  that  which  we  hoped — a  spiritual 
uplifting  of  man,  his  greater  happiness.  Rather 
have  our  cares  and  conflicts  led  us  more  and  more 
into  an  atmosphere  of  unrest  and  passion.  In 
particular,  the  growing  difficulty  of  the  struggle 
for  livelihood  has  brought  home  to  us  \vith  greater 
force  the  lack  of  any  clearly-marked  aims  in  life. 
We  toil  and  hurry  ourselves  breathless  in  order 
to  maintain  life,  but  is  the  life  worth  so  much 
toil  and  labour  ? — When  all  these  special  problems 
finally  fuse  together  into  one,  their  combined 
force  lends  them  a  resistless  weight ;  we  find 
that  we  are  uncertain  about  the  whole  meaning 
of  life  :  we  feel,  as  strongly  as  it  was  ever  felt, 
the  problematic  character  of  human  existence. 
Clearly  as  modern  science  shows  us  our  connexion 
with  nature,  we  yet  hesitate  to  trust  ourselves 
wholly  to  this  connexion,  since  it  would  involve 
a  giving-up  of  all  distinctively  human  goods  and 
values.  So  we  hold  fast  to  a  something  that  is 
More  than  Nature,  but  what  does  this  More  con- 
sist in  ?  On  what  is  it  based  ?  What  does  it  give 
man  to  do  ?  Brilliant  as  are  the  outward  triumphs 
of  civilisation,  we  yet  find  ourselves  in  the  most 
painful  perplexity  when  we  come  to  deal  with 
these  questions  of  our  life  and  being.  We  hesitate 
to  look  them  straight  in  the  face  ;  we  evade  them 
as  much  as  we  possibly  can  ;  yet,  do  what  we  will, 
io8 


REJECTION  OF  COMPROMISE 

in  the  end  the  inward  poverty  shows  through  all 
the  outward  splendour,  and  we  come  to  recognise 
it  as  our  own  intimate  concern. 

Thus  it  is  not  merely  a  religious  crisis,  it  is  a 
crisis  of  our  whole  life  with  which  we  are  faced 
to-day,  and  this  fact  puts  the  religious  struggle 
in  a  far  more  favourable  position  than  it  would 
otherwise  occupy.  For  nothing  was  more  danger- 
ous to  religion  than  to  suppose  that  it  was  possible 
to  have  a  culture  of  a  spiritual  kind,  full  of  faith 
in  the  ideal,  without  any  help  from  religion  her- 
self, and  even  in  opposition  to  her  influence.  It 
was  particularly  this  that  made  religion  seem 
secondary  and  superfluous, '  something  that  could 
be  removed  without  hurt  to  any  one.  When  now 
we  see  that  the  weakening  of  religion  is  only 
the  culminating  point  of  a  process  in  which  the 
Spiritual  Life  generally  is  being  weakened,  that 
the  fight  centres  round  ultimate  principles,  and 
concerns  not  the  part  but  the  whole,  the  whole 
life  is  roused  to  action  ;  man  is  thrown  back  on 
the  ultimate  foundations  of  his  existence,  and  we 
may  legitimately  expect  that  if  life  ever  again 
finds  stable  anchorage,  it  will  be  all  to  the  advan- 
tage of  religion,  and  will  result  in  developments 
that  we  cannot  now  foresee. 

Hard  as  this  struggle  is,  and  great  as  is  its  call 
on  our  activities,  yet,  in  one  important  point, 
religion  is  more  favourably  situated  to-day  than 
in  earlier  times.  Those  palliative  world-views 
which  obscured  the  great  opposition  of  life,  which 
desired  to  maintain  in  appearance  what  they  denied 
in  principle,  are  becoming  less  and  less  convincing. 
People  used  to  believe  in  an  Absolute  Moral  Order, 
109 


WHAT  IS  CHRISTIANITY? 

an  independent  inward  world,  a  world-embracing 
personality,  and  so  on,  without  being  able  to  assert 
any  presence  of  a  higher  Order  within  the  human 
sphere.  To-day,  however,  such  conceptions  are 
involved  in  the  general  doubt  and  upheaval.  It 
becomes  convincingly  clear  that  the  great  Either- 
Or  admits  of  no  third  alternative,  and  that  the 
conflict  concerns  not  this  or  that  particular  feature 
of  our  existence,  but  the  rationality  of  the  whole 
of  it. 

That  it  is  a  need  of  the  whole  life  which  urges 
us  to  grapple  again  with  the  religious  problem  is 
in  itself  an  indication  of  the  method  we  should 
pursue  in  treating  it.  When  religion  has  to  rise 
anew  from  the  ruins  of  a  life  that  has  suffered 
shock  and  change,  it  must  plant  itself  upon 
the  new  ground  with  complete  abandonment  of 
prejudice,  and  even  that  which  is  eternal  in  its 
nature  must  assume  a  new  form  corresponding  to 
the  new  conditions.  Thus  we  discard  all  anxious 
apologetics,  which  concentrate  their  sagacity  on 
the  endeavour  to  leave  a  loophole  for  mere  possi- 
bilities and  take  a  peculiar  pleasure  in  showing 
up  the  defects  and  failures  of  modem  move- 
ments. We  discard,  moreover,  any  form  of  re- 
ligion which  contents  itself  with  affording  a  pass- 
able support  and  comfort  to  mere  individuals, 
and  timidly  evades  the  questions  that  concern 
civilisation  as  a  whole,  and  the  collective  Spiritual 
Life.  Religion  can  become  a  power  again  only 
by  attacking  these  questions  with  courage  and 
zest.  For  man  as  a  spiritual  being  is  no  mere  in- 
dividual ;  as  a  personality  his  goal  is  the  Infinite, 
and  his  being  is  shaped  by  the  whole  content  of 


RETROSPECT 

Reality.  JThushe  who  fights  to  win  back  for 
rehgion  her  force  and  power,  should  fight  at  the 
""■same  time  for  a  regenerated  religion,  a  Chris- 
tianity that  is  active  and  progressive  in  type, 
"iDrdad,  free,  and  great.  Religfon  must  be  fully 
cbinipensated  for  the  loss  of  those  external  props 
and  aids  that  have  gone  beyond  recall.  And  such 
compensation  is  to  be  found  only  through  a  forceful 
deepening  of  the  problem  :  in  life  itself  and  its 
inward  relationships  which  we  are  wont  to  accept 
as  a  matter  of  course,  there  are  great  facts  to  be 
discovered  and  made  fruitful  and  effective. 

It  is  with  such  considerations  in  mind  that 
we  have  undertaken  the  foregoing  inquiry.  We 
have  contended  that  a  religion  of  the  Spiritual 
Life  should  be  more  clearly  distinguished  from 
that  of  the  natural  man,  and  we  have  sought  to 
promote  the  zealous  expulsion  of  all  those  frivolous 
accessories  which  lower  the  status  of  religion,  and, 
in  last  resort,  imperil  her  truth.  While  anxious 
to  do  full  justice  to  the  historical  forms  of  religion, 
we  have  sought  to  ascertain  whether  they  were 
based  on  eternal  truth,  and  thus  have  opposed 
any  mingling  of  temporal  and  eternal,  any  blind 
subjection  to  the  merely  temporal  element.  We 
have  insisted  on  the  need  of  emphasising  the  value 
of  the  new  life,  and  grasping  its  significance  firmly 
in  opposition  to  the  enslavement  of  religion  to 
outward  forms  and  formulas,  and  also  to  all  such 
influences  as  tend  to  tone  down  the  characteristic 
features,  and  thin  away  the  content. 

In  the  problems  that  here  face  us,  the  subject- 
matter  is  so  difficult,  the  resistance  of  man  so 
stubborn,  that  a  review  of  the  whole  situation 


WHAT  IS  CHRISTIANITY? 

might  easily  tend  to  daunt  us.  But  we  have  not 
here  to  do  with  a  task  that  concerns  our  unaided 
human  nature,  but  with  an  inner  necessity  of  the 
Spiritual  Life.  With  regard  to  such  a  necessity, 
and  to  religion  in  particular,  these  words  hold  good: 
"  Either  religion  is  merely  a  product  of  human 
wishes  and  ideas  under  the  sanction  of  tradition 
and  social  convention — and  then  neither  art  nor 
might  nor  cunning  can  prevent  so  frail  a  fabrica- 
tion from  being  whelmed  by  the  advancing 
spiritual  tide — or  else  religion  is  based  on  facts  of 
a  supra-human  order,  and  in  that  case  the  most 
violent  onslaught  cannot  shake  her ;  rather  will 
it  help  her  in  the  end,  through  all  the  stress  and 
toil  of  human  circumstance,  to  discover  where 
her  true  strength  lies,  and  to  express  in  purer  ways 
the  eternal  truth  that  is  in  her  "  ("  The  Truth  of 
Religion  "). 


IV 


THE  CONFLICT  OVER  CHRISTIANITY 
TO-DAY 

I.  THE  ANTI-CHRISTIAN  MOVEMENT 

IT  is  now  universally  admitted  that  the  Modern 
World,  and  the  present  time  in  particular, 
finds  itself  at  many  points  in  contradiction  with 
Christianity ;  but  the  true  extent  of  the  opposition 
and  the  uncompromising  character  of  the  attack 
are  still  very  far  from  being  generally  understood. 
We  do  not  sufficiently  realise  that  ultimate  founda- 
tions are  being  threatened  and  underlying  assump- 
tions shaken  ;  that  not  only  is  there  an  assault 
upon  the  doctrines  of  Christianity,  but  that  even 
the  very  questions  to  which  these  doctrines  are 
the  answer,  the  very  problems  of  which  they  are 
the  solution,  tend  already  to  appear  strange  and 
unintelligible  to  the  thought  of  to-day.  And  yet, 
if  we  are  to  cope  effectively  with  the  situation, 
it  is  imperative  that  we  should  realise  how  the 
matter  truly  stands.  Once  our  eyes  are  opened, 
we  shall  see  that  no  minor  defences  can  save  us  ; 
we  shall  cease  to  expect  decisive  results  from  the 
adoption  of  sectarian  programmes,  however  con- 
scientiously the  schemes  are  carried  out.    For  we 

I  113 


CHRISTIANITY  IN  CONFLICT 

shall  then  know  that  what  is  at  stake  is  not  the 
primacy  of  this  point  over  that,  or  the  superiority 
of  one  shade  of  Christianity  over  another,  but 
the  very  existence  of  Christianity  as  a  whole. 
This  is  the  central  issue,  and  we  hope  to  draw  out 
its  main  implications.  But,  in  so  doing,  we  must 
beware  of  overlooking  either  the  changes  that 
have  actually  taken  place  in  the  conditions  of 
human  life  or  the  accentuating,  intensifying  effect 
exercised  upon  these  changes  by  the  subjective 
tendencies  of  men,  their  inclinations  and  opinions. 
The  heat  and  passion  of  the  conflict  is  due 
very  largely  to  the  confusions  and  entangle- 
ments which  mark  the  interaction  of  these  two 
factors. 

We  have  already  characterised  Christianity  as 
the  religion  of  moral  redemption,  which,  through 
the  mediation  of  a  unique  personality,  aims  at 
establishing  a  new  relation  between  man  and 
God,  and  in  the  development  of  this  relation 
would  produce  a  new  order  of  life  of  which  the 
Church  is  the  visible  embodiment.  This  view  of 
Christianity  states  and  represents  certain  dis- 
tinctive convictions  which  our  modern  life  is 
finding  increasingly  uncongenial.  The  mere  fact 
that  under  the  Christian  dispensation  religion 
ruled  supreme,  and  suffered  no  other  interest  to 
assert  against  it  an  independent  value  of  its  own, 
was  in  itself  a  challenge  to  the  modem  world.  For, 
from  its  first  appearing,  the  new  spirit  has  been 
heralding  a  universal  order  of  life  in  which 
every  sphere  of  labour  is  to  find  its  just  place  and 
recognition.  It  is  quite  true  that,  within  a  dis- 
pensation such  as  this,  embracing  all  man's  powers 

U4 


THE  ANTI-CHRISTIAN  MOVEMENT 

and  all  his  varied  interests,  finding  for  every  par- 
ticular faculty  its  function  within  the  whole, 
there  is  room  for  religion  as  for  all  else,  but  it  is 
clear  that  the  role  and  significance  of  religion  are 
fundamentally  affected  by  the  summons  to  prove 
its  pretensions  and  share  with  other  powers  the 
sovereignty  of  life.  The  problems  and  difficulties 
thereby  created  became  more  crucial  as  life 
assumed  a  character  more  distinctively  modern. 
Modem  life  does  not  feel  the  deep  need  of  religion, 
the  need  for  a  new  world.  That  which  drives  men 
to  religion  is  the  break  with  the  world  of  their 
experience,  the  failure  to  find  satisfaction  in  what 
this  world  offers  or  is  able  to  offer.  But  there  is 
no  such  discord  to-day  between  man  and  his 
world.  Through  research  into  nature  and  the 
technical  mastery  over  her  resources ;  through  co- 
operation in  political,  national,  and  social  work; 
through  the  initiation  into  a  world-wide  move- 
ment with  its  inexhaustible  programme  and 
limitless  prospects,  the  modern  world  has  so 
enriched  itself,  holds  out  such  promise  for  man's 
happiness,  engrosses  his  whole  interest  so  un- 
remittingly, and  shows  such  development  of  in- 
ternal cohesion,  that  the  invisible  world  which, 
in  days  gone  by,  was  wont  to  draw  to  itself  the 
yearnings  and  strivings  of  man's  soul  has  been 
fading  more  and  more  into  the  background,  and, 
if  not  banished  altogether,  has  receded  to  an 
inaccessible  distance.  Where  the  main  passion  of 
life  is  concentrated  as  it  is  to-day  upon  the  task 
of  transforming  existence  as  we  find  it  into  a 
rational  order,  it  is  inevitable  that  religion  should 
thus  recede  into  the  background.    Ultimately  we 

"5 


CHRISTIANITY  IN  CONFLICT 

find  that  even  the  possibility  of  religion  is  fiercely 
disputed,  and  the  religious  life  repudiated  and 
explained  away  as  mere  illusion  and  untenable 
anthropomorphism.  Again,  it  is  a  presupposition 
of  all  deeper  religious  experience  that  that  which 
transpires  in  the  inner  life  constitutes  the  very 
core  of  reality ;  thus  religion  exalts  man  above 
his  environment,  and  is  even  inclined  to  treat  him 
as  the  central  fact  of  the  universe.  But  the  main 
trend  of  modem  life  and  of  modem  science  in 
particular  has  been  strenuously  opposed  to  ad- 
mitting man's  right  to  this  central  position,  and 
seeks  to  display  him  as  a  mere  link  in  the  vast 
machinery  of  nature.  The  theory  of  evolution, 
more  especially,  presents  man  as  most  intimately 
related  to  other  forms  of  life,  and  subject,  even  in 
the  movements  of  his  soul,  to  unchangeable 
natural  conditions  which  determine  the  path  he 
must  follow.  Even  the  littleness  of  the  earth  amid 
the  immeasurable  spaces  of  the  universe,  and  the 
insignificance  of  the  age  of  the  human  race  when 
compared  with  the  immense  formation-periods 
of  planets  and  of  stars,  have  the  effect  of  still 
further  diminishing  the  importance  of  man. 
There  he  stands  in  all  his  particularity  and  fini- 
tude,  amid  countless  others  as  specific  and  finite 
as  himself.  How  is  it  possible  that  the  experi- 
ences of  such  a  being  should  be  the  pivot  of  the 
world's  movement  ?  How  can  the  ideas  of  such 
a  creature  help  to  give  any  conception  of  the  ulti- 
mate grounds  and  creative  forces  of  the  universe  ? 
From  this  point  of  view  the  world  of  religion  seems 
no  better  than  a  realm  of  mere  wishes  and  dreams, 
and  the  help  it  promises  to  give  us  a  mere  illusion. 

Ii6 


THE  ANTI-CHRISTIAN  MOVEMENT 

But  that  which  possesses  no  truth  in  itself  cannot 
yield  us  true  service ;  its  empty  prophesyings 
must,  in  the  end,  prove  most  disastrous  to  human 
life. 

As  a  religion  of  moral  redemption  Christianity 
made  moral  conduct  central  for  life,  and  enriched 
it  with  peculiar  warmth  and  intimacy.  For  it 
interpreted  it  as  a  personal  and  social  relationship, 
in  harmony  or  disharmony  with  the  holy  will  of 
the  Godhead  who  governs  the  world  from  above. 
Thus  quickened  and  deepened,  the  moral  problem 
appeared  to  determine  the  fate  of  the  universe, 
and  moral  considerations  to  decide  on  the  worth 
of  a  soul.  The  whole  force  of  life  was  concentrated 
in  an  ethical  direction.  Now,  on  the  other  hand, 
there  arises  from  many  quarters  a  counter-cry  of 
protest  and  opposition.  The  keener  insight  of 
the  New  Age,  and  a  more  accurate  acquaintance 
with  the  laws  which  govern  alike  our  human  life 
and  Nature,  make  it  quite  clear  that  neither  in  the 
way  of  love  nor  in  that  of  justice  does  Reality 
endorse  our  ethical  demands.  Nature's  indifference 
to  man's  welfare  is  appalling,  yet  unmistakable ; 
and  it  is  becoming  increasingly  plain  that  every 
attempt  to  shape  our  human  world  into  a  kingdom 
of  justice  and  of  love  proves  lamentably  inadequate, 
and  meets  with  restrictions  at  every  turn.  More- 
over, is  not  the  ethical  impulse  but  one  amongst 
others,  and  does  not  its  claim  to  lord  it  over  the 
rest  involve  grave  perils  and  inconveniences  ? 
Are  not  Art  and  Science  contracted,  nay,  dis- 
figured, when  that  alone  in  them  has  value  which 
serves  a  moral  purpose  ?  Nay  more,  our  whole  life 
seems  vague  and  unreal  when  the  disposition  and 

"7 


CHRISTIANITY  IN  CONFLICT 

nothing  else  counts  ;  when  it  is  a  matter  of  little, 
or  of  secondary,  importance  whether  we  do  or 
do  not  accomplish  the  thing  which  we  approve. 
The  conduct  of  life  becomes  really  significant  for 
the  man  of  to-day  only  as  it  passes  into  working- 
contact  with  the  environment ;  the  inner  ex- 
periences of  the  soul  itself  are  of  relatively  small 
consequence. 

The  distinctive  quality  of  Christian  morals  tends 
to  strengthen  such  misgiving.  Grounded  as  these 
are  in  the  intimacies  of  personal  intercourse,  they 
exhort  above  all  to  meekness  and  benevolence, 
to  the  charity  that  bears,  suffers,  and  forgives. 
But,  we  ask,  is  a  morality  of  this  kind  strong 
enough  to  cope  with  the  problems  of  human  life  ? 
Is  it  not  too  soft  and  yielding,  seeing  that  life 
itself  is  so  heavy  and  so  hard  ?  Does  not  the  re- 
pelling of  evil  and  the  repressing  of  what  is  im- 
worthy  call  for  something  more  vigorous  and  more 
virile,  for  the  strength  that  does  not  shrink  from 
being  severe  ?  Above  all,  is  there  any  principle 
more  ultimate  than  that  of  Justice  in  the  estab- 
lishing of  a  social  order  ?  In  public  life,  as  a 
matter  of  fact,  this  sterner  quality  had  always 
been  to  the  fore ;  no  state  could  ever  have  main- 
tained itself  on  a  policy  of  mere  love  and  surrender. 
But  if  this  is  so,  the  adoption  of  the  Christian 
standard  brings  a  duality  into  our  life  that  may 
easily  betray  us  into  insincerity. 

But  over  and  beyond  such  questionings  as 
these  lay  a  criticism  still  more  radical.  The  most 
fundamental  conviction  of  all,  the  idea  that  our 
freedom  was  governed  by  the  requirements  of 
duty,  and  destined  to  serve  ends  undictated  by  our 
iiS 


THE  ANTI-CHRISTIAN  MOVEMENT 

finite  interests,  was  relentlessly  challenged.  Just 
as  in  Nature  we  find  a  prevailing  struggle  for 
existence,  so  in  our  human  sphere  also  it  would 
appear  that  merciless  competition  is  the  most 
effective  means  for  promoting  the  best  use  of  our 
powers,  and  assuring  the  progress  of  the  com- 
munity. But  this  view  of  the  progress  of  life  im- 
plies the  degradation  of  all  ethical  values  :  meek- 
ness is  just  weakness,  and  weakness  the  way  to 
the  wall.  The  endeavour,  as  exemplified  by  the 
school  of  subjective  gestheticists,  to  provide  for 
the  artistic  impulses  of  the  natural  man  the  means 
for  refined  self-indulgence  leads,  on  very  similar 
lines,  to  the  deprecation  of  morality  as  an  influence 
that  cramps  the  expression  of  individuality  and 
encourages  a  uniform  behaviour,  ^stheticism 
and  Naturalism,  however  different  in  other  ways, 
are  yet  united  in  their  common  opposition  to 
morality.  And  so  it  has  come  to  pass  that  Morality, 
once  triumphant,  has  been  swept  from  its  dictator- 
ship by  the  force  of  the  modern  current  and  com- 
pelled to  take  up  a  defensive  attitude.  Nothing 
is  more  calculated  to  undermine  the  Christian 
presentation  of  life  than  this  intellectual  blindness 
for  that  which  Christianity  held  to  be  the  motive- 
force  of  all  reality. 

As  a  religion  of  moral  redemption,  Christianity 
was  pledged  to  the  conviction  that  a  deep  ethical 
rift  ran  through  man's  nature,  a  rift  which  no 
power  of  his,  stretched  though  it  were  to  the  ut- 
most, could  ever  hope  to  close.  In  opposition  to 
this  view  the  modern  world  is  asking  whether  this 
low  valuation  of  man's  powers,  this  refusal  to 
recognise  his  moral  endowment,  does  more  than 
119 


CHRISTIANITY  IN   CONFLICT 

express  the  conviction  of  a  particular  age,  of  an 
age  made  timid  through  misery  and  oppression ; 
or  whether  it  is  perhaps  the  characteristic  con- 
fession of  a  certain  type  of  mind,  prone  to  pass 
sharply  from  one  experience  to  its  opposite,  yet 
unable  by  its  own  power  to  weld  these  into  a  unity. 
Inspired  by  an  overweening  sense  of  power, 
conscious  that  its  own  labour,  ceaseless  in  its 
progress,  is  transforming  the  face  of  the  world, 
the  New  Age  does  not  feel  the  need  of  salvation ; 
it  is  therefore  unable  to  enter  into  the  atmosphere, 
or  understand  the  soul-shattering  experiences  of 
these  earlier  times,  and  is  in  danger  of  persuading 
itself  that  the  idea  of  redemption  is  a  meaningless 
illusion. 

The  decisive  act  of  redemption  was  identified 
by  Christianity  with  the  entry  of  God  into  human 
life,  with  the  at-one-ment  of  the  human  and 
Divine  natures.  But  Christianity  held  that  this 
union  was  consummated  in  one  instance  only, 
namely,  in  the  personality  of  Christ,  and  that  such 
fulness  of  life  as  proceeded  from  the  union  could 
be  communicated  to  all  from  this  one  source 
alone.  But  it  was  above  all  through  His  vicarious 
sufferings,  through  His  self-sacrificing  love  that 
the  God-man  became  the  mediator  between  God 
and  humanity.  It  would  not  be  easy  to  deny  the 
greatness  of  the  service  rendered  by  this  line  of 
thought  in  the  spiritualising  of  life  and  the  deepen- 
ing of  feeling ;  but  the  dogmatic  setting  is  be- 
coming increasingly  difficult  to  defend :  it  is 
revealing  itself  more  and  more  clearly  as  the 
expression  of  an  anthropomorphic,  sense-fettered 
way  of  thinking  which  we  cannot   any  longer 

I20 


THE  ANTI-CHRISTIAN  MOVEMENT 

tolerate.  Impressed  as  is  the  modern  mind  with 
the  immensity  of  the  universe  and  the  littleness 
of  man,  it  finds  it  unthinkable  that  one  and  the 
same  personality  should  be  at  once  God  and  man, 
"  very  God  "  and  "  very  man  "  ;  nor  can  it  under- 
stand how  anyone's  guilt  can  be  removed  by 
anything  which  another  can  do  for  him.  The  very 
idea  of  a  mediator  is  repugnant  to  it,  since  it  is 
unable  to  see  why  the  soul  should  not  commune 
directly  with  the  Godhead.  The  idea  of  mediation 
exercised  an  overwhelming  compulsion  over  an 
age  which,  in  despairing  of  the  present  world, 
believed  that  the  Divine  could  not  be  too  sharply 
distinguished  from  it,  nor  exalted  far  enough 
above  it.  There  was  then  no  approach  to  the 
Godhead  available  for  man  apart  from  the  help 
of  mediating  powers  which,  in  last  resort,  summed 
themselves  up  in  the  transcendent  personality 
who  was  at  once  God  and  man.  But  the  whole 
endeavour  of  the  modern  age  is  to  emphasise  the 
intimacy  between  God  and  the  world,  and  bring 
both  within  a  single  scheme  of  Reality.  How 
then,  with  the  Divine  nature  and  life  so  intimately 
present,  could  any  form  of  mediation  seem  neces- 
sary ?  And  how  could  a  Divinity,  within  whose 
depth  rests  the  whole  of  Reality,  reveal  on  one 
particular  occasion  alone  the  fulness  of  his  being  ? 
Moreover,  the  improved  scientific  methods  of  to- 
day are  detecting  in  the  traditional  doctrine  of 
redemption  the  meeting-point  of  many  different 
lines  of  thought  which  are  indeed  closely  inter- 
woven, but  by  no  means  harmoniously  adjusted. 
There  is  Anthropomorphism  on  the  one  side, 
and   on    the    other    Mysticism    and    Speculative 

121 


CHRISTIANITY  IN  CONFLICT 

Theology ;  to  the  former  the  doctrine  owes  its 
warm,  emotional  appeal,  to  the  latter  the  breadth 
and  depth  of  its  spiritual  insight.  But  what  is 
lacking  is  the  vital  union  of  these  two  tendencies, 
the  moral  and  the  metaphysical,  as  we  might  per- 
haps call  them.  There  remains  a  persistent 
dualism  which  infects  with  its  own  discord  all  the 
main  ideas. 

It  was  the  aim  of  Christianity  not  only  to  help 
the  individual,  but  to  inaugurate  a  social  rdgime 
animated  by  the  Divine  spirit  and  incorporated 
in  the  Church.  On  these  premisses  there  could 
be  no  disputing  the  unique  pre-eminence  of  the 
Church,  or  its  right  to  control  all  the  relations 
of  the  social  order.  So  high  as  the  Divine  was 
exalted  above  the  human,  so  high  was  the  Church 
raised  above  all  the  institutions  of  man.  But  the 
modem  world  has  developed  a  civilisation  of  a 
secular  kind,  and  incorporated  it  firmly  in  the 
modern  State.  Thus  the  Church  finds  itself  faced 
by  a  grave  dilemma.  If  she  maintains  unaltered 
her  ancient  claims,  she  is  driven  into  ever  sharper 
antagonism  with  the  modern  world  and  the  modem 
State ;  if,  on  the  other  hand,  she  renounces  these 
claims,  Christianity  becomes  increasingly  a  con- 
cern of  the  mere  individual ;  there  ceases  to  be 
any  distinctively  Christian  sphere  of  life,  and  the 
secular  view  and  treatment  of  things  threatens 
entirely  to  supersede  the  religious  dispensation. 
It  is  true  that  religion  would  then  cease  to 
be  a  source  of  disturbance  and  unrest,  but  it 
could  accomplish  very  little,  and  might,  without 
much  loss  to  anyone,  vanish  out  of  human 
life. 

132 


THE  ANTI-CHRISTIAN  MOVEMENT 

So  deep-reaching,  so  unsettling  a  criticism  of  all 
the  main  tenets  of  the  Christian  Faith,  was  bound 
in  the  long  run  to  deter  men  from  any  sort  of 
adhesion  to  Christianity.  And  as  decade  after 
decade  has  passed,  this  alienation  of  sympathy 
has  become  more  and  more  marked.  At  first  it 
was  a  few  particularly  crude  doctrines  which 
awakened  incredulity  and  opposition ;  but,  as 
time  wore  on,  the  whole  structure  of  Christianity 
was  drawn  down  into  the  arena.  At  the  outset 
the  spirit  of  criticism  and  negation  was  confined 
within  narrow  limits,  the  great  mass  of  the  people 
remaining  unaffected  in  its  beliefs.  But  this  state 
of  things  has  been  gradually  changing,  and  from 
the  great  cities  more  especially  a  passionate  wave 
of  denial  is  spreading  further  and  further  into 
the  life  of  the  people.  We  need  only  look  at 
France  to  convince  ourselves  that  it  is  no  impos- 
sible thing  that  the  major  part  of  a  people  should 
fall  away  from  the  Christianity  of  the  Church. 
Now  in  considering  these  questions  we  should 
always  bear  in  mind  that,  from  the  point  of  view 
of  immediate  experience,  the  religious  outlook  is 
far  from  appearing  the  most  obvious  and  ready 
to  hand.  A  historical  religion,  as  in  the  special 
case  of  Christianity,  has  been  tested  by  long  ex- 
perience, and  passed  through  the  stress  and  the 
shock  of  conflict.  The  desire  for  spiritual  self- 
preservation  impelled  it  to  break  with  the  world 
about  it,  and  to  set  up  in  opposition  to  it  a  spiritual 
synthesis  implying  its  own  distinctive  type  of 
social  life.  The  world  of  religion  thus  became 
man's  central  concern.  It  provided  a  point  of 
view  from  which  the  whole  of  Reality  appeared  in 

123 


CHRISTIANITY  IN  CONFLICT 

a  characteristic  light.  In  the  atmosphere  of 
religious  conviction  the  riddles  of  existence, 
though  they  remained  unsolved,  were  yet  softened 
into  a  mj^tery  that  could  be  borne.  Religion  could 
answer  the  importunate  questions  which  torment 
man's  soul  so  as  to  inspire  the  faithful,  at  least, 
with  complete  conviction.  Above  all,  man  found  in 
religion  an  antidote  to  the  evils  that  preyed  upon 
his  life  and  threatened  to  rob  it  of  all  its  meaning. 
But  when  this  synthesis  breaks  up,  and  the 
spiritual  atmosphere  sympathetic  to  it  is  dissi- 
pated, the  chill  and  gloomy  first  impressions  of 
reality  reassert  themselves  unchecked  ;  the  riddles 
of  existence  exert  their  full  pressure  once  more; 
what  used  to  seem  obvious  becomes  again  pro- 
blematic, and  all  unsolved  enigmas  rise  up  in 
protest  and  accuse  religion. 

Now  as  the  spirit  of  denial,  re- awakened,  be- 
comes more  and  more  insistent,  it  is  easy  to  see 
that  it  must  pass  over  into  plain  rejection  and 
even  into  impassioned  anger.  For  in  questions  of 
this  kind  no  middle  course  is  possible,  and  there  is 
no  room  for  amiable  compromise.  If  the  religious 
sjmthesis  is  effected  only  at  the  cost  of  truth,  if  it 
distorts  and  falsifies  the  deepest  issues  of  life, 
it  becomes  quite  impossible  to  tolerate  it  any 
longer,  and  to  attack  it  without  mercy  becomes 
at  once  an  urgent  duty,  and  the  condition  of  a 
sincere  and  healthy  life.  The  manner  in  which 
the  attack  has  been  made  may  have  been  not 
infrequently  far  from  tactful,  but  we  cannot 
blame  these  adversaries  of  the  Christian  faith 
for  the  strength  of  their  feeling  in  the  matter. 
It  befits  the  importance  of  the  issue  more 
124 


THE  ANTI-CHRISTIAN  MOVEMENT 

truly  than    does    the   lukewarm  temper  of   the 
moderate. 

But  there  is  one  aspect  of  the  modern  movement 
that  is  indeed  astonishingly  perverse — and  we  come 
across  it  pretty  often  nowadays — I  refer  to  a  way 
of  thinking  kin  to  that  of  the  Enlightenment, 
which  rejects  Christianity  and  all  that  goes  with  it 
as  a  misleading  error ;  and,  at  the  same  moment, 
raises  a  paean  over  the  greatness  of  man  who, 
having  learnt  the  lesson  of  self-help  through  the 
light  of  his  own  thinking,  is  about  to  prepare  for 
himself  a  glorious  destiny  on  the  ruins  of  super- 
stition. For  this  superstition,  as  it  is  called,  has 
for  a  millennium  and  over  won  the  allegiance  of 
the  noblest  minds,  has  been  immeasurably  fruitful 
of  spiritual  results,  and  stirred  the  soul  to  its 
uttermost  depths.  And  this  over  a  large  area  of 
human  life.  If  despite  all  this  effectiveness  it 
were  still  a  mere  illusion,  would  not  this  evoke 
a  deep  distrust  in  man's  capacity  ?  Were  he 
capable  of  going  so  completely  and  fearfully 
astray  during  so  protracted  a  period  of  time,  and 
concerning  questions  which  related  to  the  whole 
conduct  of  his  life  and  touched  his  most  intimate 
experiences,  it  would  be  marvellous  indeed  should 
an  unerring  faculty  for  truth  spring  suddenly  up 
in  him  to-day.  If,  on  the  witness  of  history,  man 
had  really  shown  himself  so  weak  and  defenceless 
as  this  in  face  of  the  main  problems  that  pressed 
upon  his  life,  should  we  not  have  experienced  the 
heaviest  discouragement  and  dejection  ?  The 
break  with  Christianity  should  thus  have  shattered 
man's  trust  in  his  own  competence,  and  made 
room  for  a  dismal  and  despairing  view  of  human 

125 


CHRISTIANITY  IN  CONFLICT 

affairs.  And  yet  not  even  a  prospect  such  as  tliis 
could,  or  indeed  should,  have  prevented  this  rup- 
ture when  a  necessity  of  the  inner  life  demanded 
it.  A  broad  current  of  the  present  Age  affirms 
this  necessity  ;  but  there  is  also  a  counter-current 
to  be  reckoned  with,  as  we  now  proceed  to  show. 


2.  THE  REVIVAL  OF  RELIGIOUS  INTEREST 

The  revival  of  religious  interest  which  is  taking 
place  to-day  is  not  so  much  the  product  of  apolo- 
getics as  the  fruit  of  human  experience ;  and  the 
proof  that  religion  is  still  indispensable  to  us  is 
indirect  rather  than  direct.  Time  has  shown  that 
it  is  not  so  easy  to  cast  religion  out  of  man's  life ; 
that  its  defeat  means  loss,  a  loss  which  man  can 
support  well  enough  for  a  time,  but  not  for  ever. 
With  the  downfall  of  religion  begins  that  inward 
disintegration  of  life  which  in  the  long  run  threatens 
to  rob  it  of  all  its  meaning,  and  deeply  lower  our 
human  nature.  The  threat  inevitably  provokes 
a  counter-wave  which  from  modest  beginnings 
swells  to  a  passionate  intensity,  initiating  move- 
ments which  transform  the  conditions  of  human 
existence,  and,  in  particular,  compel  a  wholly 
different  attitude  to  the  religious  problem.  Life 
pulsates  afresh  in  many  a  new  direction,  and  no 
one,  however  professedly  modern  he  may  be, 
who  ignores  these  later  developments  or  mini- 
mises their  importance,  can  claim  to  read  aright" 
the  signs  of  the  times. 

Through  its  establishment  of  a  direct  human 
126 


REVIVAL  OF   RELIGION 

relationship  with  the  Power  that  supports  and 
governs  the  universe,  Religion  gave  man  the  power 
of  reviewing  his  life  as  a  whole  and  of  passing 
judgment  upon  it.  And  in  so  far  as  it  made  his 
soul  the  meeting- place  of  different  planes  of  reality, 
and  made  decision  in  regard  to  these  imperative, 
it  compelled  him  to  choose  between  one  order  of 
life  and  another.  Moreover,  in  striving  to  unite 
himself  with  God,  man  felt  the  whole  cosmos 
draw  down  into  his  soul,  and  was  led  to  partici- 
pate in  the  life  of  the  universe. 

With  the  passing  of  religion,  the  connexions 
which  unify  the  world  relapse  into  mere  conjunc- 
tions. Within  this  dust  and  powder,  completely 
involved  in  these  mere  sequences  and  co-existences, 
is  man.  He  must  accept  himself  as  he  accepts  his 
environment,  just  as  it  comes.  His  life  consists 
in  attaching  himself  to,  or  detaching  himself  from, 
this  or  that  point  outside  him  ;  even  his  inner  life 
is  fettered  to  a  single  point ;  he  can  in  no  wise 
break  away  from  it  so  as  to  enter  the  circle  of 
another's  life,  or,  in  last  resort,  penetrate  within 
the  very  soul  of  the  universe.  Now  sooner  or  later 
man  must  inevitably  realise  the  narrowness  and 
pettiness  of  a  life  such  as  this ;  for  by  reason  of  his 
spiritual  nature  he  cannot  be  resolved  without 
remainder  into  his  relations  with  the  environment, 
nor  reduced  to  a  mere  link  in  a  causal  chain. 
His  own  thought  breaks  the  chain,  rescues  him 
from  his  captivity,  and  bids  him  grasp  the  world 
as  a  whole  and  adjust  himself  organically  within  it. 
Even  his  feeling  and  his  striving  cannot  shrink 
to  a  mere  point  of  self-centred  affection  :  these 
cannot   forbear  all   sympathy   with   that   which 

127 


CHRISTIANITY  IN    CONFLICT 

lies  beyond  their  own  particular  sphere ;  and,  with 
sympathy,  our  wishes  and  desires  find  inevitably 
a  new  centre  of  attraction.  But  if  man  thus 
participates  in  a  larger  life,  if  he  has  sight  of  reality 
as  a  whole,  then  this  exclusive  concentration  on  a 
single  isolated  point  of  existence,  the  circling  of 
the  whole  sphere  of  life  about  this  existential 
atom,  is  experienced  as  an  intolerable  limitation, 
and  the  longing  somehow  to  transcend  it  refuses 
to  be  silenced  or  set  aside.  But  how  shall  it  be 
satisfied  now  that  religion  has  been  rejected,  and 
with  it  every  inward  connexion  of  reality  forfeited, 
and  the  world  transformed  into  a  mere  series  of 
isolated  states  ?  Between  one  such  state  and 
another  there  is  now  an  impassable  gulf;  and  all 
thought,  feeling,  and  life  falls  from  out  the  whole 
of  things  into  the  limbo  of  illusion. 

In  close  connexion  with  the  present  problem  is 
the  question  as  to  the  value  of  human  life  and 
conduct.  In  the  days  when  man  stood  in  direct 
relation  to  the  Power  that  rules  the  world,  and 
was  the  object  of  its  providential  care ;  when  the 
decisions  that  he  reached  affected  the  fortunes  of 
the  whole  universe,  helping  or  hindering  its  pro- 
gress; where  blessings  were  at  stake  which  lay 
far  beyond  the  private  well-being  of  the  indi- 
vidual life ;  then,  indeed,  life  had  its  indisputable 
value.  Thus,  in  religion,  it  was  the  pure  inward- 
ness of  religious  experience  which  assumed  the 
primacy  over  all  that  happened  ;  there  emerged 
a  History  of  the  Soul,  which  treated  all  externali- 
ties as  mere  accessories ;  each  of  us  suffered  in 
himself  the  mighty  tension  of  the  world's  destiny 
and  experienced  it  afresh.  No  man  could  then 
128 


REVIVAL  OF   RELIGION 

doubt  that  his  life  had  a  meaning  and  a  value, 
and  the  knowledge  of  this  fortified  him  against 
all  that  seemed  dark  and  tragic,  and  gave  him 
joyous  assurance  in  the  midst  of  strife. 

But  if  this  inner  world  dissolve  into  mere  mist 
and  shadow ;  if  life,  confined  to  a  single  plane  of 
being,  lose  all  its  depth,  man  becomes  a  mere 
negligible  unit  in  the  world's  vast  labour-house  : 
how  his  inner  life  prospers,  whether  he  fares  well 
or  ill  under  this  new  regime,  these  are  matters  of 
no  consequence  either  to  Nature  or  the  Social 
Order.  If  life  has  still  a  certain  value,  it  must 
spring  either  from  the  products  of  man's  labour, 
or  from  the  pleasurableness  of  his  feeling.  But 
if  life  were  an  uninterrupted  succession  of  pleasur- 
able states,  this  could  not  satisfy  a  being  whose 
thought  had  once  passed — nay,  been  driven — 
beyond  the  consciousness  of  the  passing  moment, 
irresistibly  driven  to  look  at  life  as  a  whole.  And 
if  life  is  more  than  mere  pleasure  and  joy,  if  it 
calls  for  much  labour  and  trouble,  renunciation 
and  self-sacrifice,  must  not  the  consciousness  that 
it  is  all  supremely  unimportant  have  a  paralysing 
effect  upon  our  conduct  ? 

In  the  appeal  to  the  products  of  man's  labour 
as  a  standard  of  value,  we  see  the  modern  stand- 
point shifted  from  the  individual  to  humanity  as 
a  whole,  and  a  new  centre  established  from  which 
to  appraise  the  value  of  life.  But  either  humanity 
is  a  mere  aggregate,  of  which  the  units  touch  each 
other  only  from  outside,  in  which  case  we  are 
left  standing  just  where  we  were,  or  there  are  laid 
within  our  human  race  the  foundations  of  an 
inner  world,  and  we  are  then  well  over  the  threshold 

K  129 


CHRISTIANITY  IN   CONFLICT 

of  mere  experience,  for  we  have  recognised  in  man's 
life  the  presence  of  an  invisible  Order.  If  there  be 
no  such  presence,  our  human  life  and  conduct  has 
absolutely  no  value  at  all. 

Religion  stands  for  the  conviction  that  God, 
and  not  man,  is  the  measure  of  things ;  it  repre- 
sents, therefore,  a  truth  transcending  the  opinion 
and  caprice  of  man,  a  truth  which  weighs  and 
judges  all  man's  undertakings.  If  there  is  no  such 
independence  of  the  truth-standard,  there  can 
be  no  such  things  as  science  or  philosophy,  no 
upbuilding  of  a  spiritual  world,  no  spiritual  cul- 
ture as  opposed  to  the  culture  that  is  merely 
human,  that  mere  parody  of  culture ;  but  this 
independence  remains  a  fiction  so  long  as  absorp- 
tion in  material  interests  reduces  the  Spiritual 
Life  to  a  merely  phenomenal  status,  and  makes 
of  it  a  merely  human  product.  For  there  is  then 
no  standard  of  truth  and  untruth  beyond  our  own 
opinions  and  inclinations,  however  casual  and  shift- 
ing these  may  chance  to  be;  with  the  disappearance 
of  the  higher  standard  vanish  all  distinctions  of 
value ;  the  opinion  of  one  man,  blockhead  or 
good-for-nothing  though  he  may  be,  is  worth  just 
as  much  or  just  as  little  as  that  of  another,  though 
this  other  may  be  a  genius  or  a  hero  :  no  one  has  the 
right  to  stand  out  above  another.  And  in  practice 
this  means  that  the  power  is  vested  in  the  masses  : 
matters  of  truth  and  right  are  decided  by  count  of 
heads  on  the  basis  of  an  impartial  and  universal 
suffrage,  and  in  last  resort  the  value  of  a  literary 
achievement  or  a  work  of  art  is  determined  by 
the  popular  judgment  of  the  metropolis.  For 
with  what  right  and  with  what  power  behind  him 
130 


REVIVAL  OF   RELIGION 

could  any  single  individual  oppose  his  own  con- 
viction to  that  judgment  and  claim  it  as  superior  ? 
This  faith  in  the  masses  might  appear  reasonable 
so  long  as  men  pictured  them,  after  the  fashion  of 
Rousseau,  as  noble  and  pure,  still  uncontaminated 
by  the  refinements  of  civilisation,  and  guided  by 
a  sure  instinct  towards  the  truth  ;  but  that  the 
experiences  of  later  times  do  not  precisely  favour 
this  romantic  glorification  of  the  people  is  scarcely 
open  to  dispute ;  thus  does  the  rejection  of  the 
higher  truth-standard  work  itself  out  into  its  conse- 
quences with  unmistakable  distinctness,  and  logic- 
ally extinguish  every  impulse  after  truth. 

In  no  particular,  perhaps,  was  the  historical 
influence  of  the  religious  movements  so  conspicuous 
as  in  the  coherency,  the  spiritual  unity,  they  gave 
to  life :  a  unity  within  which  all  efforts  were  or- 
ganised, directed  towards  one  well-defined  end, 
and  socially  inter-related.  Only  so  could  the 
Spiritual  Life  express  itself  clearly  in  its  own 
distinctive  way.  Out  of  the  connexions  thus 
initiated  there  grew  up  not  only  a  converging 
movement  among  the  various  departments  of 
human  activity,  but  also  community  of  sentiment 
and  good- will  among  men.  Mutual  understanding 
became  possible  ;  men  felt  with  one  another  and 
did  each  other  mutual  service.  It  is  true  that 
here  and  there  a  people  may  be  found  more  or 
less  capable  of  cementing  its  life  without  the  aid 
of  religion  ;  but  on  the  whole  such  a  consolida- 
tion of  a  nation's  energies  would  seem  possible 
only  through  association  with  a  loftier  life  which 
transcends  the  slavishness  and  fragmentariness 
of  human  existence.     Where  this  inner  bond  is 

i3« 


CHRISTIANITY  IN  CONFLICT 

lacking,  the  manifold  divergencies  of  our  material 
interests  make  themselves  dominantly  felt,  and  in 
default  of  counter-influences  our  ways  draw  more 
and  more  apart,  we  become  increasingly  estranged 
from  one  another,  until  at  last  we  live  in  wholly 
separate  worlds.  Such  inward  disintegration  of 
humanity  is  already  painfully  apparent  to-day ; 
civilisation  itself  is,  in  many  different  directions, 
in  process  of  rapid  dissociation  ;  a  Babylonish 
confusion  of  speech  separating  us  more  and  more 
into  rival  parties  and  factions  is  unmistakably 
spreading,  and  threatens  increasingly  to  end  in  a 
helium  omnium  contra  omnes.  No  doubt  that  in 
our  work,  in  our  handling  of  material  objects,  we 
still  co-operate,  but  such  unity  as  we  here  achieve 
is  not  inward  in  character,  and  does  not  affect 
our  deeper  life.  As  a  well-organised  business-house 
stamps  its  own  work  clearly  with  its  own  seal,  so 
the  whole  existence  of  each  of  us,  transformed  as 
it  were  into  work  carried  on  at  the  universal 
factory  of  civilisation,  is  stamped  with  the  mark 
of  the  one  little  utility  which  it  subserves.  Can 
this  satisfy  us,  and  what  in  the  end  is  the 
meaning  of  this  great  factory  of  human  cul- 
ture ?  Whom  does  it  serve,  and  whom  does 
it  profit  ? 

So  far  we  have  been  concerned  with  religion 
only  in  its  general  aspect,  and  we  have  seen  that 
its  demolition  is  far  from  proving  the  unmixed 
boon  which  its  opponents  anticipated.  But  even 
in  the  more  specific  form  of  Christianity,  it  is 
beginning  once  more,  in  the  context  of  this  new 
age,  to  be  better  understood.  If  the  answers  do 
not  yet  carry  conviction,  it  is  becoming  increasingly 
132 


REVIVAL  OF  RELIGION 

apparent  that  the  questions  cannot  be  set  aside. 
This  is  particularly  true  of  morality,  which  in 
Christianity  was  most  intimately  associated  with 
religion.  If  morality  in  its  traditional  form  met 
with  manifold  opposition,  this  was  no  doubt 
owing  in  large  measure  to  the  rigidity  and  narrow- 
ness, in  short,  to  the  inadequacy  of  its  presenta- 
tion ;  but  that  in  abandoning  the  form,  the  very 
substance  of  morality  should  also  have  been  dis- 
carded, that  there  should  have  been  this  failure 
to  reach  down  to  the  true  inwardness  of  the  matter, 
and  pass  judgment  from  this  more  ultimate 
point  of  view,  is  due  mainly  to  the  shallowness 
and  superficiality  which  have  spread  such  a  blight 
over  our  modern  world.  The  essentials  of  morality 
may  be  summed  up  under  three  heads.  The 
content  consists  in  the  detaching  of  one's  life  from 
all  aims  and  interests  that  are  exclusively  indi- 
vidual, and  in  the  inclusion  of  others,  ultimately 
of  all  others,  within  the  scope  of  one's  personal 
will  and  effort.  The  form  consists  in  the  demand 
that  adherence  to  this  aim  shall  be  recognised  as 
a  supreme  duty,  and  all  wilfulness  subordinated 
to  its  control.  The  method,  the  one  indispensable 
means  to  the  realisation  of  morality,  is  Freedom, 
the  turning  of  one's  nature  towards  the  moral 
ideal.  Taken  together,  these  essentials  give  a 
generous  breadth  to  life,  a  high  seriousness,  a 
native  spontaneity,  and  we  are  left  exalted  above 
ourselves.  Such  changes,  however,  cannot  be 
wrought  without  a  recasting  of  all  first  impres- 
sions ;  and  the  life  which  declines  such  conver- 
sion, which  remains  the  slave  of  its  own  natural 
impulses,  untrammelled  by  any  thought  of  duty, 


CHRISTIANITY  IN  CONFLICT 

making  man  a  mere  part  and  parcel  of  nature's 
mechanism — such  a  life  scarcely  deserves  to  be 
called  spiritual  at  all :  it  would,  indeed,  be  em- 
phatically unspiritual  were  it  to  adhere  rigorously 
to  its  own  programme. 

The  more  prodigious  the  movement  engendered 
by  our  modern  civilisation,  the  more  it  summons 
us  to  strive  with  all  our  might  and  fills  us  with 
insatiable  ambitions,  the  fiercer  the  clash  of  rival 
interests  and  the  race  for  happiness  and  power, 
the  more  necessary  does  it  become  that  an  inde- 
pendent Spiritual  Life  should  dominate  the  storm 
and  stress  of  the  conflict,  test  the  world's  work, 
and  so  separate  the  pure  ore  of  truth  from  its  alloy 
of  human  error.  Such  spiritual  independence, 
however,  is  attainable  only  through  morality : 
the  collapse  of  the  moral  life  inevitably  brings 
with  it  an  inward  weakening  of  spiritual  fibre, 
which  ensures  the  lordship  of  the  lower  nature. 
We  are  dragged  down  the  stream  of  our  own  in- 
terests and  passions,  we  have  lost  the  power  to 
will,  have  ceased  to  be  our  own  master,  and  are 
become  the  slaves  of  our  natural  impulses  and 
lusts ;  and  3'et  such  enslavement,  more  ignoble 
as  it  is  than  any  other,  is  not  infrequently  charac- 
terised, with  unconscious  irony,  as  the  highest 
freedom. 

If  any  one  w*ill  sum  up  the  losses  which  have 
already  resulted  from  these  lapses,  and  the  dangers 
which  still  threaten  us  from  the  same  quarter, 
he  will  not  esteem  it  a  reproach  to  Christianity, 
but  rather  as  a  title  to  praise,  that  it  should  have 
set  morality  so  unambiguously  over  all  that  is 
merely  natural,  and  regard  for  the  soul's  welfare 


REVIVAL  OF   RELIGION 

so  far  above  any  and  every  concern  for  the  things 
of  this  world.  The  struggle  for  moral  existence  is 
not  a  struggle  between  interests  of  equal  standings 
We  have  to  decide  between  surface  and  depth, 
between  a  detached  and  fragmentary  experience 
on  the  one  hand,  and  on  the  other  a  life  that  is 
whole  and  inwardly  complete. 

Even  the  more  specifically  Christian  formula- 
tion of  morality,  the  precedence  given  to  love  and 
mutual  personal  interqourse  met  with  manifold 
opposition,  and  was  attacked  from  many  quarters. 
But  here,  again,  the  critics  trusted  far  too  much 
to  external  appearances,  and  drew  their  conclusions 
from  a  few  instances  of  a  doubtful  kind.  If 
Christian  charity  had  been  mere  weakness  and 
docility,  it  is  hard  to  see  how  Christianity  could 
have  conquered  a  hostUe  world,  and  in  contrast 
to  experience  as  we  find  it  have  set  up  a  new  order 
of  life.  And  it  is  hard  to  see  how  it  could  have 
affected  so  profoundly  all  our  social  relations. 
All  who  are  acquainted  otherwise  than  through 
hearsay  with  the  inward  development  of  Chris- 
tianity know  well  how  far  it  was  from  ignoring 
the  problem  of  Justice,  that  the  question  between 
Love  and  Justice  was  most  earnestly  discussed 
by  it,  and  that  thinkers  and  artists  of  the  very 
first  rank,  such  as  Augustine  and  Dante,  de- 
voted their  best  strength  to  the  solution  of  this 
problem. 

The  confusion  of  this  deeper  meaning  of  love 
with  that  of  the  natural,  more  particularly  the 
sexual  passion,  also  called  love,  has  been  a  fruitful 
source  of  misconception,  and  notably  in  this  re- 
spect that  it  presents  that  which  is  in  truth  a  deep 

135 


CHRISTIANITY  IN   CONFLICT 

mystery,  and  demands  for  its  expression  a  new 
reality,  as  a  light  and  easy  matter  within  the 
immediate  reach  of  all.  Now  that  life  should 
detach  itself  from  its  self-centred  individuality, 
and  yet  not  lapse  in  so  doing  into  mere  nullity 
and  platitude,  but  display  on  the  contrary  a 
heightened  activity  and  creative  power ;  and 
that,  in  thus  maturing,  it  should  raise  to  a  higher 
potency  whatever  it  can  grasp  and  make  its  own, 
all  this,  from  the  merely  individualistic  standpoint 
of  the  sense-life,  is  utterly  incomprehensible. 
For  it  implies  a  new  world,  the  free  re-fashioning 
of  life  from  its  own  inmost  depths,  and  this  is 
possible  only  when  the  power  of  the  whole  comes 
into  play,  and,  taking  possession  of  the  individual 
soul,  creates  in  it  a  new  life.  Augustine,  then, 
was  fully  justified  in  maintaining  that  love  within 
our  human  sphere  is  genuine  only  when  it  rests 
in  the  love  of  God,  and  is  thereby  raised,  in  the 
only  possible  way,  above  the  level  of  a  merely 
natural  impulse.  Spinoza,  too,  distinguished  from 
the  merely  natural  affection  a  higher  kind  of  love 
(amor  intelledualis),  in  which  he  found  the  highest 
that  life  could  attain  to.  Again,  when  we  turn 
to  the  creative  genius  of  a  poet  like  Goethe,  we 
find  the  true  visionary  power  of  passing  into  the 
life  of  others,  whether  persons  or  things,  joyously 
sharing  their  experience  as  though  it  were  his 
own,  and  then  faithfully  reproducing  what  he  had 
felt.  What  is  this,  if  it  is  not  love  ?  Even  a 
rigorous  logician,  like  Hegel,  formulates  in  his  own 
way  the  great  problem  of  the  mystery  of  love, 
the  secret  of  the  new  life  found  through  losing  the 
old,  and  these  are  his  words  :   "  Love  is  the  most 

136 


REVIVAL  OF   RELIGION 

stupendous  contradiction  and  beyond  the  power 
of  the  understanding  to  remove,  for  there  is 
nothing  so  impervious  as  this  pin-point  of  self- 
consciousness  which,  in  being  negated,  still  retains 
its  positive  character.  Love  is  at  once  the  source 
and  the  solution  of  the  contradiction." 

Christianity — and  no  other  religion  in  this  re- 
spect resembles  it — has  set  this  great  problem, 
this  world-renewing  fact,  at  the  very  heart  of  life, 
and  undertaken  to  make  it  the  controlling  power 
even  in  the  sphere  of  our  finitude.  Humanity 
would  suffer  immeasurable  loss,  would  sink  to 
the  very  depths,  were  she  willing  to  renounce  love 
even  for  a  time.  But  no  one  is  less  likely  to  do 
this  than  the  man  of  to-day.  For  the  complete 
indifference  with  which  Nature  runs  her  course 
independently  of  man's  weal  or  woe  stands  out 
glaringly  apparent  before  his  very  eyes,  and  the 
insufficiency — nay,  even  the  illusoriness — of  such 
love  as  our  own  natural  humanity  can  bring  forth, 
is  just  as  plain  to  see.  If  we  cannot  recognise 
and  greet  Love  as  a  world-power,  our  life  must 
inevitably  lose  all  confidence  and  hope.  Now  we 
are  girt  about  by  a  religion  which  most  emphati- 
cally proclaims  this  universal  power  of  Love,  and 
brings  it  intimately  near  to  each  one  of  us.  And 
are  we,  at  the  bidding  of  superficial  reasoners,  to 
allow  this  splendour  to  be  argued  out  of  our 
life,  cancelled  and  done  away  with,  instead  of 
hailing  it  with  joy  and  carrying  forward  the 
evangel  ? 

Every  religion  with  a  redemptive  message  takes 
for  granted  that  man's  immediate  existence  is 
infected  with  a  contradiction  which  within  the 

137 


CHRISTIANITY  IN   CONFLICT 

limits  of  that  existence  remains  insoluble,  and  yet 
cannot  possibly  be  tolerated.  In  the  case  of  Chris- 
tianity it  is  man's  moral  life  which  harbours  this 
contradiction.  Christianity  holds  that,  down  to 
the  very  roots  of  his  moral  nature,  man  is  es- 
tranged from  what  is  right,  and  therefore  requires 
that  he  shall  become  a  new  creature  and  live  a 
new  life.  The  form  which  this  conviction  has 
taken  in  concept  and  in  doctrine  is  no  doubt 
open  to  attack  on  many  sides,  but  so  long  as  the 
fundamental  fact  survived  as  an  inspiration  in 
human  experience  it  triumphed  over  all  the  objec- 
tions brought  against  it.  But  the  modem  world, 
dazzled  by  the  splendour  of  its  own  achievements, 
armed  with  its  consciousness  of  power,  stimulated 
by  its  craving  for  a  fuller  and  a  richer  life,  has 
thrust  such  experience  into  the  background,  and 
for  a  time  forgotten  it.  And  now  the  problems 
and  perplexities  of  the  nineteenth  century  and 
our  own  have  thrust  it  forward  once  more,  and, 
with  growing  insistence,  are  challenging  the  old 
complacent  belief  in  the  work  of  civilisation  and 
the  light-hearted  enthusiasm  for  progress.  It 
becomes  increasingly  difl&cult  not  to  recognise 
the  sharp  contradiction  which  runs  through  the 
whole  life  of  man  and  comes  to  a  head  in  his  moral 
behaviour.  With  the  development  of  the  Spiritual 
Life  there  emerges  in  man's  soul  a  new  stage 
of  Reality,  and  with  it  a  wholly  different  set  of 
standards,  powers,  and  problems.  That  in  itself 
would  engender  no  contradiction  were  the  higher 
dispensation  secure  of  its  mastery  over  the  lower, 
and  were  it  progressively  bringing  the  whole  of 
reality  under  its  sway.     But  experience  shows 

138 


REVIVAL  OF  RELIGION 

us  that  this  is  not  the  case.  Not  only  does  the 
lower  persist  unchanged  in  nature,  but  it  draws 
the  higher  down  to  its  own  level  and  enlists  its 
powers  in  its  service  ;  and  even  from  its  own 
point  of  view  the  higher  appears  to  depend  for 
its  existence  on  the  assistance  of  the  lower,  and 
to  be  unable  to  hold  together  without  it.  This 
warp  in  our  social  conditions  betrays  itself  with 
peculiar  distinctness  through  the  way  in  which 
the  whole  industry  of  our  spiritual  life  to-day, 
whether  in  politics,  in  science,  or  in  art,  is  honey- 
combed with  ignoble  interests  and  aims.  We 
feel  the  effects  of  the  perversion  in  the  hypocrisies 
and  impurities  which  it  engenders,  in  the  inevit- 
able weakening  of  personal  force,  and  in  the  stag- 
nation of  all  such  productive  labour  as  makes 
demands  upon  life  as  a  whole.  It  is  impossible  to 
ponder  over  these  perplexities  without  realising 
a  grave  contradiction  in  the  life  that  we  live.  A 
higher  type  of  life,  which  no  human  caprice  could 
ever  have  devised,  a  world-life  in  the  germ,  dis- 
turbs our  lower  moods  ;  but  capable  as  it  un- 
doubtedly is  of  shaking  us  from  our  inertia  and 
making  us  dissatisfied  with  ourselves  and  the  life 
we  have  been  living,  it  has  not  the  power  to  assert 
itself  triumphantly  against  all  opposition.  Thus 
we  remain  entangled  in  our  perplexities  without 
the  least  hope  of  ever  getting  clear  of  them.  For 
there  can  be  no  disputing  the  fact  that  the  idea  of 
progress,  with  the  prospect  it  holds  out  to  us  of 
a  gradual  improvement,  comes  woefully  to  grief 
against  this  fundamental  contradiction  :  as  man 
moves  forward  the  contradiction  goes  with  him, 
and  such  advance  as  he  makes,  instead  of  lessen- 

139 


CHRISTIANITY  IN  CONFLICT 

ing,  serves  rather  to  increase  it.  But  since 
faint-hearted  acquiescence  in  a  situation  such  as 
this  must  mean  the  loss  of  the  inward  life,  an 
imperious  impulse  towards  spiritual  self-preserva- 
tion compels  us  to  ask  whether  there  may  not  be 
further  depths  still  open  to  us,  profounder  sources 
of  energy  whence  we  may  draw  fresh  ardour  of 
life,  and  be  freed  from  the  limitations  of  our  fini- 
tude ;  whether  indeed  we  may  not  find,  beyond  the 
adulterated  springs  at  which  we  drink,  pure  fresh 
founts  of  inspiration,  whose  healing  shall  spiri- 
tually renew  us  till  the  life  of  the  spirit  become 
our  very  own.  But  any  such  venture  as  this  must 
carry  us  far  beyond  the  realm  of  immediate  ex- 
perience :  it  requires  of  us  that  we  invert  the  given 
reality,  and  so  leads  us  into  the  paths  of  Meta- 
physics and  Religion.  It  would  not,  however, 
serve  our  present  purpose  to  pursue  any  further 
the  line  of  thought  here  suggested  ;  our  sole  object 
was  to  show  that  the  confusions  and  upheavals 
we  have  noticed  present  the  struggle  of  Christianity 
for  the  saving  of  the  soul,  the  winning  of  a  new 
life,  and  the  uniting  of  human  and  Divine  in 
a  very  different  light  from  that  in  which  it  was 
set  by  those  earlier  generations  who  saw  it 
through  the  medium  of  a  self-confident  temper, 
and  an  enthusiasm  for  the  idea  of  progress. 

Those  who  ponder  all  this  in  their  thought,  and 
make  clear  to  themselves  what  the  prevailing 
modem  temper  really  is,  will  not  deny  that  im- 
portant changes  in  man's  inner  life  are  in  pro- 
gress, which  convince  him  in  the  depths  of  his 
soul  that  that  which  at  the  surface  of  every-day 
life  deems  itself  so  civilised  and  so  perfect  is 
140 


REVIVAL  OF  RELIGION 

already  found  wanting,  and  is  doomed  to  perish. 
In  the  very  process  through  which  its  powers 
have  been  developed/  modern  civilisation  has 
revealed  insurmountable  limitations,  and  has 
shown  its  inadequacy  for  man's  need  as  a  whole 
and  its  inability  to  furnish  his  life  with  a  firm 
support.  For  a  long  time  men  were  fascinated 
with  the  profit  which  this  unquestionably  powerful 
movement,  impelled  by  an  inner  necessity,  brought 
with  it  in  its  train  ;  now  we  are  realising  with  in- 
creasing clearness  how  much  was  wasted  in  the 
process  through  which  it  grew,  or  else  was 
thrust  into  the  background.  These  losses  were 
not  so  noticeable  so  long  as  the  spiritual 
atmosphere  of  the  past  still  persisted,  and  the 
novelties  of  a  materialistic  and  positivistic  regime 
could  filter  through  it  and  emerge  supplemented, 
softened,  and  transformed.  But  now  this  atmo- 
sphere has  become  increasingly  rarefied,  so  that 
the  supplement  that  it  contributes  has  become 
ever  weaker  and  fainter,  and  the  new  Order 
exhibits  therefore  with  increasing  distinctness 
and  force  the  elements  of  negation  and  exclusion 
which  are  proper  to  it.  Thus  its  limitations  become 
more  and  more  apparent,  and  its  growth  turns  more 
and  more  into  a  process  of  decay.  The  doubt  and 
confusion  thus  engendered  raise  new  issues  which 
concern  the  whole  conduct  of  life,  and  alter  our 
attitude  to  the  religious  problem.  If  it  was  possible 
for  a  season  that  Religion  should  be  discharged — 
dismissed,  that  is,  as  of  no  further  consequence — 
she  is  now  reinstated  once  again,  and  reappears 
with  strength  renewed. 


141 


CHRISTIANITY  IN  CONFLICT 


3.    THE  PERPLEXITIES  OF  THE  NEW  SITUATION 

The  situation  created  by  the  movements  we 
have  been  describing  is  of  an  extremely  intricate 
character,  and  it  is  no  easy  thing  to  find  one's 
way  out  of  the  maze.  But  there  is  indisputably 
a  movement  in  the  direction  of  Religion,  however 
boldly  Religion  may  still  be  denied  by  a  voluble 
but  half-educated  populace.  Nor  can  we  fail  to 
detect  a  certain  revival  of  interest  in  Christianity, 
or  at  least  to  discern  a  growing  capacity  to  under- 
stand its  problems.  But  this  revival  is  in  no  sense 
a  simple  return  to  Christianity  in  its  traditional 
form ;  on  the  contrary,  every  approach  that  is 
made  towards  the  Christian  belief  remains  widely 
sundered  from  the  old  orthodoxy.  When,  after 
missing  their  way  in  their  quest  after  culture, 
men  find  themselves  cast  back  upon  religion, 
they  return  to  it  from  a  broader  basis,  and  they 
need  larger  horizons  than  ecclesiastical  Christianity 
can  supply.  Thus  there  are  many  to-day  whose 
strong  craving  for  religion  is  unmistakably  tem- 
pered by  a  deep  aversion  or  else  a  wearied  in- 
difference to  its  traditional  ecclesiastical  form. 
Open  to  criticism  as  our  modern  civilisation  still 
may  be,  and  that  in  many  ways,  more  especially 
in  its  claim  to  be  all-sufficing,  none  the  less  it  has 
wrought  great  changes  in  our  common  life,  de- 
velopments in  which  human  error  and  caprice 
have  played  no  part ;  it  has  awakened  new  energies 
in  us  and  put  them  to  use.  It  has  brought  us  into 
new  relations  both  with  the  world  and  with  our- 
selves. How  can  we  disavow  such  service  as 
142 


THE   NEW  SITUATION 


this,  or  in  a  friendly  and  peace-loving  spirit  read 
it  all  back  into  the  old  ?  Those  who  hold  it 
possible  that  Old  and  New  should  enter  into 
immediate  understanding  with  one  another  are 
wont  to  insist  that  it  is  only  the  old  view  of  the 
world  that  has  essentially  altered,  and  that  the 
Christian  life,  undisturbed  by  these  changes,  may 
still  abide  calmly  by  its  old  profession.  But  any 
such  sundering  of  life  and  world- view  is  emphati- 
cally to  be  rejected  :  it  cannot  be  effected  without 
lowering  the  spiritual  status  of  life,  and  making 
it  a  mere  matter  of  subjective  concern.  It  is  no 
doubt  quite  possible  that  changes  in  our  idea  of 
the  world  should  take  place  without  perceptibly 
modifying  the  whole  tenor  of  our  life ;  we  need 
only  recall  here  the  slowness  with  which  the  effects 
of  the  Copernican  revolution  made  themselves 
felt.  But  so  soon  as  the  change  affects  the  whole, 
so  soon  as  it  brings  with  it  a  new  turn  in  our  way 
of  thinking,  it  becomes  at  once  a  development  of 
life  itself,  and  its  consequences  are  felt  through  the 
whole  framework  and  fabric  of  the  soul.  We  have 
learnt  to  know  Nature  as  an  Order  governed  by 
simple  laws,  as  an  unbroken  network  of  causes  and 
effects,  and  this  new  appreciation  suggests  new 
problems,  and  renders  us  capable  of  new  ventures 
undreamt  of  by  earlier  ages  ;  moreover,  the  new 
conception  of  man's  historical  development  as  a 
movement  impelled  by  its  own  inward  forces  and 
unfurthered  by  any  miracle  has  worked  in  pre- 
cisely the  same  direction.  With  our  new  relation 
to  the  environment  we  have  become  other  than 
we  were,  and  what  we  do  is  no  longer  what  we 
did. 

M3 


CHRISTIANITY  IN  CONFLICT 

But  it  is  not  only  in  its  external  relationships 
that  our  life  is  now  essentially  different  from  what 
it  was.  Its  own  inner  relationships  have  changed. 
Our  spiritual  industry  now  essays  greater  detach- 
ment from  the  conditions  of  the  sense-life  :  it 
has  WTought  a  wider  interval  between  subject 
and  object,  feeling  and  presentation,  and,  whilst 
seeking  greater  freedom  from  the  special  conditions 
of  our  human  sphere,  has  developed  its  own 
springs  of  action,  moulded  its  own  laws,  under- 
taken a  struggle  against  the  narrowness  and 
slavishness  of  the  merely  natural  life.  Now  when 
a  movement  such  as  this  reaches,  as  it  inevitably 
must  do,  the  sphere  of  religion,  much  of  the  tra- 
ditional religious  material  must  seem  to  mix  up 
sensual  and  spiritual,  and  to  confuse  subjective 
with  objective  factors,  and  in  other  respects  must 
appear  intolerably  anthropomorphic.  Again,  in 
its  ecclesiastical  form  religion  must  appear  still 
fettered  to  a  stage  in  spiritucd  development  which 
we  have  once  and  for  all  outgrown,  and  to  which 
we  can  no  more  return  than  we  could  pass  from 
a  later  phase  of  life  back  into  an  earlier. 

Nor  will  it  prove  so  easy  for  religion  to  resume 
the  position  it  once  held  in  relation  to  the  whole 
complex  of  the  Spiritual  Life.  Time  was  when  it 
was  honoured  as  the  one  sole  source  of  what  is 
valuable  in  life  ;  what  lay  beyond  the  pale  of 
religion  was  set  down  as  a  subordinate  matter,  to 
which  one  could  be  more  or  less  indifferent.  In 
opposition  to  this  tendency  the  modem  age  has 
set  the  endeavour  after  a  universal  life,  and  has 
proved  the  justice  of  such  an  endeavour  by  the 
splendid  work  it  has  done.  It  now  demands  that 
144 


THE  NEW  SITUATION 


every  single  department  of  man's  life,  however 
prominent  its  pretensions,  shall  justify  these  in 
relation  to  life's  good  as  a  whole,  and  take  its  part 
in  the  development  of  the  common  life. 

Now  religion  cannot  be  exempted  from  this 
general  requirement,  however  justly  it  may  feel 
itself  to  be  the  soul  of  the  whole  spiritual  Order. 
And  it  cannot  meet  the  demand  without  under- 
going considerable  internal  developments  which 
must  affect  all  its  characteristic  features,  e.g.  its 
conception  of  God.  As  a  member  of  the  whole  it 
must  share  the  movement  of  the  whole,  and  cannot 
therefore  portray  any  particular  historical  form 
as  the  Absolute  Truth,  and  as  a  Conclusion  valid 
for  all  time.  However  much  the  form  may  stand 
for  an  eternal  truth,  and  in  this  representation  of 
the  eternal  feel  itself  superior  to  the  stream  of 
time,  stUl  in  its  manifestation  the  eternal  appears 
to  us  also  as  a  problem,  a  problem  unceasingly 
renewed.  When  such  convictions  are  held,  the 
ground  upon  which  ecclesiastical  Christianity  rests 
has  been  manifestly  abandoned. 

Must  we  then  dissociate  ourselves  entirely  from 
Christianity,  and  seek  to  divert  the  new  and  rising 
tide  of  religious  interest  as  far  from  it  as  possible  ? 
This  would  be  necessary  only  if  the  traditional 
ecclesiastical  form  of  Christianity  could  be  simply 
identified  with  Christianity  itself,  and  it  could 
be  shown  that  this  precise  form  of  Christianity  had 
already  exhausted  all  the  essential  possibilities, 
and  absorbed  all  the  force  of  the  Christian  revela- 
tion. But  this  is  by  no  means  certain.  In  the  first 
place,  we  must  be  perfectly  clear  on  this  point, 
that  a  religion  cannot  be  artificially  produced. 

L  145 


CHRISTIANITY  IN  CONFLICT 

Involved  as  we  are  in  the  midst  of  a  complex  and 
cultivated  civilisation,  the  attempt  to  concoct 
new  religions  by  sagacious  thinking,  in  complete 
disregard  of  all  the  facts  of  history,  implies  an 
utter  misconception  of  what  is  essential  and  effec- 
tive in  religion,  and  is  on  this  account  already 
foredoomed  to  certain  failure.  A  religion  is  not 
primarily  a  mere  theory  concerning  things  human 
and  Divine — such  a  theory  can,  of  course,  be 
(juite  easily  put  together  with  a  little  ingenuity — : 
it  discloses  ultimate  revelations  of  the  Spiritual 
Life,  further  developments  of  reality,  great  or- 
ganisations of  living  energy,  movements,  in  a 
word,  which  have  convulsed  the  age  in  which  they 
came  victoriously  to  birth,  and  have  subsequently 
proved  themselves  strong  enough  to  attract  large 
portions  of  mankind,  weld  each  of  these  inwardly 
together,  and  set  an  invisible  world  before  it  as 
the  main  basis  of  life.  In  such  upheavals  of  the 
life  of  the  people  there  is  opened  up  a  rich  mine  of 
fact  which  becomes  the  property  of  all  men,  and 
includes  valuable  experiences  of  humanity  as  a 
whole.  He  who  would  cut  himself  off  from  this 
great  stream  of  experience,  inward  as  well  as 
outward,  will  soon  find  out  how  little  the  isolated 
individual  can  do  in  matters  of  this  kind.  It  is 
easy  to  find  fault  with  what  tradition  hands  down, 
no  less  easy  to  draw  up  vague  views  of  one's  own, 
but  how  immense  is  the  distance  which  separates 
procedure  such  as  this  from  the  creative  effort 
which  urges  its  sure  way  forward,  from  the  syn- 
thesis which  embraces  all  men's  lives  and  exer- 
cises an  elemental  compulsion  upon  them.  To 
construct  a  religion  out  of  concepts  cunningly 
146 


THE  NEW  SITUATION 


strung  together,  what  is  it  but  to  attempt  to 
make  a  real  material  body  out  of  phantoms  ? 

So  surely,  then,  as  the  effort  to  renovate  religion 
should  not  dissociate  itself  from  the  interests  and 
fortunes  of  humanity,  must  the  preservation  of 
some  degree  of  historical  continuity,  and  the  affilia- 
tion of  one's  own  work  with  that  of  traditional 
religion  appear  immensely  valuable.  But  we  must 
first  make  up  our  minds  whether  this  concurrence 
of  the  present  with  the  aims  and  ideals  of  the  past 
is  quite  so  simple  and  natural  as  at  first  it  might 
appear.  We  must  consider  whether  the  move- 
ments of  our  modern  life  have  not  cleft  an  un- 
bridgeable chasm  between  the  newer  world  and  the 
old.  We  especially  have  good  reason  not  to  treat 
this  question  too  lightly,  since  on  our  view  it  is 
not  only  the  world-outlook  which  has  essentially 
changed,  but  the  whole  conduct  of  life.  What,  then, 
is  it  that  constitutes  a  permanent  bond  of  con- 
nexion so  that  we  can  welcome  old  and  new  ten- 
dencies alike  as  phases  of  one  persistent  historical 
movement  ?  There  can  be  only  one  answer.  Our 
first  impressions  jdeld  no  sense  of  connexion,  we 
are  rather  overwhelmed  by  a  sense  of  difference  ; 
there  seems  to  be  an  utter  disparity  between  what 
we  have  on  the  one  hand  and  what  we  want  on  the 
other.  To  feel  our  kinship  with  the  past  we  must 
transcend  these  first  appearances,  we  must  rise 
to  the  conviction  that  the  essence  of  religion  does 
not  lie  in  circumstance  and  temperament,  with  all 
the  contingencies  that  these  imply,  but  in  the 
characteristic  spiritual  reality  to  which  it  gives 
expression,  and  this  does  not  spring  from  any 
special  conditions  of   human  experience,   which 

147 


CHRISTIANITY  IN  CONFLICT 

do  but  facilitate  its  progress  and  support  it  in  its 
practical  application  to  human  life.  Christianity 
is  not  a  mere  product  of  the  first  fewjcQQturies; 
*^h^  didliut  prepare  the  ground  for  the  unfolding 
oTTfs'truth. 

Now  our  whole  inquiry  stands  for  the  conviction 
that  in  Christianity,  as  a  religion  of  moral  redemp- 
tion, such  a  revelation  of  spiritual  reality  has 
actually  been  given,  and  with  it,  from  the  deepest 
founts  of  being,  an  inspiration  that  stirs  us  to  the 
pursuit  of  ends  that  can  never  be  superseded. 
This  spiritual  reality,  with  the  scheme  of  life 
which  it  unfolds,  is  not  itself  affected  by  the  vicissi- 
tudes of  time,  and  yet  our  human  appropriation 
of  it  is  a  process  with  a  history,  and  this  history 
can  pass  through  several  phases  which,  as  they 
first  meet  us,  seem  to  differ  widely  from  one  an- 
other. But  with  this  spiritual  reality  as  our  pre- 
supposition, a  reality  which  reveals  itself  in  all 
the  phases  of  the  movement,  the  deepest  intima- 
cies of  life  may  preserve  the  thread  unbroken, 
and  the  spiritual  content  of  one  phase  become 
the  possession  of  another  also,  and  so  none  of  it 
be  lost.  This,  then,  is  our  conviction  concerning 
the  relation  in  which  we  stand  to  the  older  Chris- 
tianity. The  same  spiritual  world,  the  same 
groundwork  of  spiritual  life,  the  same  character- 
istic traits  that  distinguish  all  religions  of  moral 
redemptions  are  dominant  alike  in  the  old  dis- 
pensation and  the  new ;  and,  further,  must  retain 
their  supremacy  if  our  religious  life  is  not  to  lose 
itself  in  mists  of  error,  and  fall  most  grievously 
from  its  high  estate.  It  is  not  our  dutyjo^day  to 
fight  for  a  new  religion ;  we^avelBut  to"Ehdle 
— 148 


THE  NEW  SITUATION 


into  freshness  of  life  the  fathomless  depths  of^ 
Christianity.  In  so  far  as  we  succeed  in  domg 
this,  we  can  completely  satisfy  the  requirements 
of  the  new  situation  ;  we  can  seek  to  realise  a 
Christianity  that  shall  be  at  once  more  universal 
and  more  active,  and  intent  on  disengaging  itself 
from  its  anthropomorphisms ;  at  the  same  time 
we  shall  view  as  our  very  own  the  wealth  of  re- 
ligious profundity  and  inward  experience  which  the 
older  Christianity  has  gathered  through  its  cen- 
turies of  service,  and  shall  seek  to  realise  them  in 
our  own  life.  Unity  and  difftTence  can  thus  assist 
each  other  in  the  winning  of  their  rights. 

But  this  attempt  at  an  understanding  rests  on 
a  definite  assumption  with  which  it  either  stands 
or  falls ;  a  Spiritual  Life  superior  to  our  merely 
natural  existence  must  have  its  seat  of  authority 
in  us,  resist  our  acquiescence  in  the  demands  of 
the  natural  order,  and  reveal  to  us  the  possibilities 
of  a  new  world.  But  to  this  end  our  first  impres- 
sions of  reality  must  suffer  a  spiritual  change ; 
our  life  must  turn  to  the  metaphysical,  not  indeed 
in  the  narrow  academic  sense  of  the  word  "  meta- 
physic,"  but  in  that  sense  of  it  which  implies  that 
an  Invisible  World  is  accepted  as  the  soul's  true 
home.  But  from  such  a  venture  as  this  our  age 
shrinks  as  from  a  pernicious  illusion. 

And  yet  it,  too,  feels  how  unsatisfying  is  the 
ordinary  life  of  acquiescence  and  compromise ; 
it,  too,  desires  a  deepening  of  life  ;  but  it  asks 
that  life  shall  be  deepened  without  offending  the 
canons  of  common  sense  or  colliding  with  public 
opinion.  It  would  reach  a  new  end  by  the  old 
means,  and  is  anxious  to  climb  the  highest  peaks 

M9 


CHRISTIANITY  IN  CONFLICT 

without  forfeiting  the  comforts  of  the  walk  on 
the  plain.  Men  must  first  be  shaken  out  of  this 
spiritual  laziness,  whether  through  circumstances 
which  at  length  render  intolerable  the  ineptitude 
of  the  Philistine's  life,  or  through  violent  cata- 
strophes of  the  social  order,  or  through  the  advent 
of  forceful  and  magnetic  personalities,  or  perhaps 
in  all  three  ways  at  once.  When  we  shape  our 
life  with  prime  reference  to  the  struggle  for  spiri- 
tual self-preservation,  and  with  a  view  to  winning 
for  it  both  meaning  and  value,  there  will  be  found 
in  us  the  self-confident  and  defiant  energy  of  crea- 
tive passion,  and  with  it  a  complete  indifference 
to  the  opinions  and  prejudices  of  that  conventional 
life  about  us  which  expresses  with  such  pitiful 
inadequacy  the  true  powers  that  are  latent  in 
human  life. 

Through  transformations  such  as  these,  and 
the  attainment  of  a  spiritual  life  transcending  the 
natural,  will  it  be  possible  to  strive  for  an  under- 
standing between  religion  and  the  industry  of  the 
civilised  world,  and  to  overcome  the  sharp  oppo- 
sition which  subsists  between  them  to-day.  For 
we  should  never  assume  that  this  hostility  is 
normal  and  in  the  nature  of  things,  or,  above  all, 
accept  any  depreciating  of  the  world's  industry 
as  a  mark  of  religious  distinction.  Were  such 
opposition  normal,  life  would  be  split  in  twain, 
and  the  cleavage  would  infallibly  prove  most 
injurious  not  only  to  civilisation  as  a  whole,  but 
also  to  both  the  contending  parties.  And  yet  an 
understanding  is  possible  only  on  condition  that 
we  are  able  to  distinguish  within^.tivilisation  itself 
between  the  genuine  spiritual  content  that  it  reveals 
150 


THE  NEW  SITUATION 


and  the  forms  which  this  revelation  takes  under  the 
influence  of  human  bias;  then,  and  not  till  then, 
will  it  be  possible  to  consider  the  question  whether 
religion  and  culture  can  meet  harmoniously 
within  a  life  that  includes  them  both,  and,  with- 
out forfeiting  their  mutual  independence,  work 
together  from  this  common  basis  towards  a 
common  goal. 

Manifestly  our  Age  is  pregnant  with  great  prob- 
lems, problems  which  can  be  successfully  solved 
only  when  our  life  is  once  again  stirred  powerfully 
from  within.  But  if  this  is  to  be,  we  must  clearly 
recognise  our  own  insufficiencies  and  the  hopeless- 
ness of  all  attempts  to  compass  the  high  ends  we 
have  in  view  from  the  surface-life  of  our  modern 
culture 


4.    THE  CHURCHES  AND  THEIR  DIVISIONS. 

The  distinction  between  the  older  structure  of 
Christianity  and  the  new  one  still  in  the  making 
cannot  be  given  the  importance  we  have  attached 
to  it  without  exciting  a  strong  suspicion  that  the 
authority  of  the  existing  Churches  is  not  really 
so  final  as  it  might  seem  to  be.  The  importance 
of  the  point  demands  that  we  consider  it  more 
closely.  Not  that  we  have  the  slightest  intention 
of  making  a  comprehensive  survey  of  the  Churches, 
weighing  their  methods  and  estimating  the  sig- 
nificance of  their  work  ;  we  propose  to  limit  our- 
selves to  asking  how  the  Churches  conceive  the 
relation  between  the  old  traditional  religion  and 
the  requirements  of  modern  life,  and  whether  their 


CHRISTIANITY  IN  CONFLICT 

ways  of  handling  the  problem  give  promise  of  a 
satisfactory  solution. 

Now,  from  the  standpoint  of  the  Churches,  the 
outstanding  feature  in  the  discussion  of  this 
problem,  as  we  in  Germany  understand  it,  is  the 
opposition  between  Catholic  and  Protestant.  Let 
us  adopt  this  division  as  fundamental  for  our  own 
treatment  also.  Catholicism,  in  the  stable  and 
finished  form  which  the  Middle  Ages  gave  it,  is 
earnestly  engaged  in  the  task  of  uniting  religion 
firmly  with  the  rest  of  life  ;  its  glance  is  directed 
accordingly  over  the  whole  field  of  existence,  and 
it  aims  at  balancing  one  against  the  other  all  life's 
various  interests.  Closely  connected  with  this 
policy  is  the  high  esteem  in  which  Philosophy  is 
held  by  this  Church,  so  that  it  has  its  place  even 
in  the  discussion  of  religious  questions.  But  how- 
ever great  and  imposing  the  undertaking  may  be, 
it  cannot  silence  certain  deep  misgivings  as  to 
the  way  in  which  it  is  carried  out.  The  methods, 
in  all  their  essentials,  remain  mediaeval  in  charac- 
ter, and  mediaevalism,  with  all  that  is  distinctive 
of  it,  can  lay  no  claim  to  finality.  Now  the  dis- 
tinctive feature  of  mediaeval  policy  is  just  this  : 
the  affiliation  of  the  world  of  natural  reason  to 
Christianity  through  the  idea  of  gradation.  Within 
its  own  sphere  this  natural  world  enjoys  a  certain 
independence,  but  in  its  totality  it  is  subordinated 
to  the  "  Kingdom  of  Grace,"  and  can  assert  no 
claim  that  would  clash  with  the  requirements  of 
this  kingdom.  But  it  derives  its  content  mainly 
from  the  culture  of  the  ancient  world,  and,  more 
particularly,  from  the  philosophy  of  Aristotle. 

Over  against  this  solution,  there  arises  at  first 
152 


THE  CHRISTIAN  CHURCHES 

the  question  whether  such  a  junction  of  different 
worlds,  which  in  their  last  elements  diverge 
wholly  from  one  another,  the  world  of  Antiquity, 
on  the  one  hand,  with  its  bias  towards  immanence, 
and,  on  the  other,  the  ancient  Christianity  with 
its  bias  towards  transcendence,  can  result  in  a 
true  inward  union ;  whether,  indeed,  it  is  more 
than  a  mere  juxtaposition  of  heterogeneous  ele- 
ments which  the  man  of  to-day,  with  that  greater 
force  and  unity  of  life  which  he  enjoys,  is  quite 
imable  to  tolerate.  From  the  religious  side  we 
are  justified  in  asking  whether  the  superiority 
which  this  solution  claims  for  itself  does  not  amount 
in  the  end  to  a  pronounced  dependence  upon 
ancient  modes  of  thinking,  upon  the  old  Intellec- 
tualism,  for  instance,  or  upon  the  idea  of  organisa- 
tion in  the  exaggerated  form  it  bore  in  ancient 
times  ;  and,  on  the  social  side,  the  claim  of  finality 
which  it  sets  up  would  be  quite  intolerable  unless 
we  could  take  it  as  proved  that  the  whole  advance 
of  modern  civilisation  has  affected  only  the  outer 
fringe  of  life,  and  has  never  wrought  any  central 
transformation,  or  furthered  life  as  a  whole.  The 
adherents  of  the  old  system  have  indeed  bestirred 
themselves  most  zealously  to  prove  this ;  they 
have  adopted  a  friendly  attitude  towards  the 
natural  sciences,  since  the  results  of  research  in 
this  department  do  not  thrust  the  necessity  for  a 
world-view  so  forcibly  upon  us  as  they  do  else- 
where ;  on  the  other  hand,  no  kind  of  recognition 
is  vouchsafed  to  modern  philosophy  which,  with 
all  that  is  distinctive  of  it  and  concerns  its  essential 
principles,  is  set  down  as  a  mere  outflow  of  wilful 
infidelity.     He  who  thinks  otherwise  concerning 

153 


CHRISTIANITY  IN  CONFLICT 

modem  civilisation,  and  rates  its  significance 
more  highly,  he  who  recognises  that,  spite  of  any 
possible  one-sidedness  or  proneness  to  mistake 
its  bearings,  it  is  still  the  source  of  certain  essential 
developments  of  spiritual  reality,  must  reject  this 
stereotyping  of  the  mediaeval  solution  as  an  in- 
tolerable restraint ;  and  a  Church  which  would 
perpetuate  a  situation  so  insupportable  must  be 
content  to  fall  farther  and  yet  farther  behind  as 
humanity  marches  forward.  Moreover,  in  order 
to  retain  the  loyalty  of  its  adherents,  it  must 
alwa)^  be  pressing  more  hardly  upon  them,  and, 
despite  all  outward  expansion,  must  develop  in- 
wardly an  ever  more  exclusive  and  sectarian 
spirit. 

The  movement  of  Modernism — and  it  must  be 
confessed  that  Germany  here  lags  very  much 
behind — declines  to  settle  on  this  mediaeval  ground. 
Its  desire  is  to  quicken  Catholicism  into  living 
activity  without  sacrificing  any  of  the  religious 
features  of  the  Catholic  faith  and  at  the  same  time 
to  bring  this  faith  into  a  less  prejudiced  relation 
to  the  spiritual  life  of  the  modern  world.  The 
movement  is  decidedly  not  wanting  either  in  the 
service  of  scholarship,  wherein  its  work  has  been 
conspicuously  good,  or  in  its  personnel,  for  its 
ranks  include  some  outstanding  personalities. 
But  whether  it  is  possible  that  there  should  spread 
from  this  centre  an  influence  that  would  affect  the 
whole  substance  of  religion,  and  whether  Catholi- 
cism can  come  to  terms  with  modern  culture  with- 
out forfeiting  its  very  essence,  these  are  questions 
which  we  might  well  hesitate  to  answer  in  the 
affirmative. 

154 


THE  CHRISTIAN  CHURCHES 

In  Protestantism  we  must  distinguish  two 
separate  types,  the  older  and  the  newer ;  the 
former  expressing  the  convictions  of  the  Reforma- 
tion time,  the  latter  resulting  from  the  contact  of 
modem  culture  with  Christianity.  Common  to 
both,  indeed,  is  the  high  value  set  upon  personality 
and  the  primacy  assigned  to  the  inner  life  ;  and, 
in  the  face  of  Catholic  opposition  more  especially, 
this  common  element  is  an  influential  factor ; 
but  the  specific  content  of  these  two  types  is  so 
very  different  that  they  can  scarcely  be  reckoned  as 
belonging  to  one  and  the  same  form  of  religious 
faith,  inasmuch  as  orthodox  Protestantism  has 
closer  affinities  with  Catholicism  than  with  the 
newer  type  of  Protestantism. 

The  old  Protestantism,  opposed  as  it  was  to 
the  mediaeval  adulteration  of  Christianity  with 
extraneous  elements,  was  concerned  in  empha- 
sising the  distinguishing  peculiarities  of  the  Chris- 
tian faith.  This  tendency  led  it  to  present  the 
relation  between  belief  and  knowledge,  or  between 
religion  and  culture,  as  one  of  opposition,  and  to 
sanction  the  sundering  of  our  human  life  into  two 
halves  which  touched  each  other  only  from  with- 
out. It  held  that  our  faith  in  Divine  matters 
became  firmer  in  proportion  as  it  was  more  ex- 
clusively self-supporting.  No  words  of  ours  are 
needed  to  show  how  largely  this  view,  according 
to  which  the  whole  weight  of  the  religious  problem 
bore  directly  on  the  individual  soul,  was  responsible 
for  strengthening  the  religious  life,  deepening  its 
inwardness  and  intensifying  the  meaning  of  the 
moral  problem ;  but  it  would  be  hard  indeed  to 
maintain  that  its  solution  of  the  problem  at  issue 
155 


CHRISTIANITY  IN  CONFLICT 

was  in  £iny  sense  final.  The  schism  implied  in  this 
solution  leaves  both  sides  of  the  divided  life  ex- 
posed to  the  gravest  dangers ;  religion  assumes 
a  form  that  is  far  too  subjective  and  specifically 
emotional :  it  becomes  predominantly  a  matter 
of  individual  concern.  Ciilture,  on  the  other  hand, 
when  severed  from  vital  contact  with  the  deepest 
problems  which  concern  man  as  a  whole,  de- 
generates easily  into  a  cult  of  the  merely  secular 
and  useful.  And  the  integral  status  of  religion 
is  here  less  secure  than  with  Catholicism.  So  long 
as  religion  remained,  as  in  ancient  days,  the  un- 
questioned ruler  of  life,  the  movement  of  culture 
alongside  of  it  could  not  in  any  way  prejudice  its 
own  development.  But  the  more  rich  and  in- 
fluential this  culture  grew,  and  the  more  it  became 
man's  chief  concern,  the  more  did  religion  threaten 
to  degenerate  into  mere  provincialism,  and  to 
rank,  in  last  resort,  as  a  thing  of  no  consequence. 
Many  of  its  defenders,  in  their  endeavour  to  secure 
it  against  all  the  doubt  and  confusion  which  per- 
plex it  to-day,  are  falling  back  on  a  historical 
basis,  and  are  wont  to  entrench  themselves  in 
the  positiveness  of  historical  fact.  This  venture 
would  be  in  sympathy  with  that  of  the  Reforma- 
tion in  this  respect  at  least,  that  the  Reformation 
itself  effected  a  transition  from  a  speculative  to  an 
historical  interpretation  of  religion.  But  in  the 
eyes  of  the  Reformation,  not  only  was  the  Scrip- 
ture story  raised  above  all  doubt  whatsoever,  but 
it  stood  in  direct  correspondence  with  certain 
great  world-transforming  facts,  with  truths  that 
transcended  the  historical  level.  Historical  criti- 
cism, however,  has  severely  scrutinised  the  form 
156 


THE  CHRISTIAN  CHURCHES 

in  which  the  Scriptures  have  come  down  to  us, 
and  has  shaken  its  authority,  and  we  are  putting 
the  matter  mildly  when  we  say  that  historiced 
happenings  of  a  metaphysical  kind  can  no  longer 
be  accepted  as  a  mere  matter  of  course.  We  have 
to  determine  afresh  for  ourselves  the  true  meaning 
of  history,  and  we  can  do  this  only  from  the  stand- 
point of  life  as  a  whole.  Until  this  has  been  done, 
the  appeal  to  history  may  easily  pass  into  an 
oppression  of  the  living  present  by  the  dead  past, 
and,  despite  all  its  erudition,  degenerate  into  a 
spiritless  historicity  which,  by  failing  to  distin- 
guish between  the  intimate  and  the  remote, 
imperils  the  full  truthfulness  of  life.  The  leader- 
ship of  the  Spiritual  Life  has  manifestly  passed 
away  from  this  old  Protestant  orthodoxy,  which 
is  therefore  exerting  an  unjustifiable,  we  may 
even  say  an  immoral,  pressure  upon  the  com- 
munity, notably  upon  the  teaching  profession, 
when,  with  a  compulsion  that  may  be  directly 
or  indirectly  enforced,  it  imposes  upon  it  a  creed 
which  was  the  product  of  a  special  age  and  a 
special  mental  environment.  They  who  no  longer 
have  the  spiritual  leadership  committed  to  them 
should  not  be  anxious  to  assume  command. 

With  the  newer  Protestantism  the  matter  stands 
very  differently.  There  is  here  a  desire  to  satisfy 
the  full  claims  both  of  religion  and  of  culture,  and 
to  seek  an  understanding  between  them  on  the 
ground  of  the  living  present.  But  if  in  this  way 
much  cause  of  offence  and  stumbling  is  removed, 
from  another  side  new  difficulties  make  themselves 
felt.  This  newer  form  of  Protestantism  is  the 
outcome    of    modern    culture    rather    than    of 

157 


CHRISTIANITY  IN  CONFLICT 

religion,  and  however  nobly  influential  that  cul- 
ture may  have  been — as  it  was,  for  instance,  at 
the  zenith  of  Germany's  classical  period — the 
distinctive  essence  of  Christianity  failed  here  to 
find  adequate  expression.  Its  faith  beyond  reason, 
its  renunciation  of  the  world,  its  vein  of  aus- 
terity, these  were  thrust  far  out  of  sight,  whilst 
its  power  to  overcome  the  world  and  renew  it 
survived  in  a  weakened  form ;  and  there  arose  a 
Christianity  that  was  too  amiable  and  amenable, 
too  full  of  the  world's  joy,  doing  no  harm  indeed 
to  any  one,  but  so  wanting  in  metaphysical  depth 
that  it  could  no  longer  stu:  the  soul  with  might,  or 
gather  life's  forces  together  ;  a  Christianity,  more- 
over, that  was  stronger  in  denial  than  in  affirma- 
tion, stronger  to  discard  the  old  than  to  build  up 
the  new.  Any  sweeping  judgment  concerning 
this  line  of  religious  development  is  indeed  liable 
to  appear  unjust,  since  it  is  precisely  along  this 
line  that  we  find  the  widest  divergencies  between 
individuals,  and  what  each  does  at  his  best  differs 
greatly  with  the  person.  But  no  amount  of  regard 
for  individuals  can  disguise  the  fact  that  this 
movement  as  a  whole  has  not  yet  won  over  the 
human  race  any  influence  that  can  be  really  called 
great,  and  that  in  this  respect  it  still  lags  far  behind 
the  older  forms  of  religion. 

The  responsibility  for  this  deficiency  lies  largely 
with  the  tendency  to  adjust  the  new  conviction 
to  the  creed  and  constitution  of  the  old,  a  ten- 
dency which  on  German  soil  is  notably  displayed 
in  the  dependence  of  the  Church  upon  the  State. 
Concerning  the  advantages  or  disadvantages  of 
such  an  arrangement,  there  is  room  for  differences 
158 


THE  CHRISTIAN  CHURCHES 

of  opinion,  and  it  may  well  be  that  under  normal 
conditions  the  policy  might  have  important  ad- 
vantages. But  at  present  the  conditions  are  not 
normal,  and  in  an  age  like  ours,  which  has  fallen 
out  with  the  traditional  religion,  the  injury  done 
by  compromises  of  this  kind  far  outweighs  the  good. 
For  so  long  as  the  energy  of  the  movement  is 
absorbed  in  the  attempt  to  appropriate  old  forms 
so  far  as  possible,  or  at  least  to  adjust  itself  to 
them,  it  will  be  trammelled  in  the  attempt  to  ex- 
press itself  sincerely,  deprived  of  its  just  share  in 
the  shaping  of  its  own  experience,  and  prevented 
from  consolidating  its  efforts  firmly  and  effec- 
tively. Besides,  the  struggle  between  the  old 
form  and  the  new  wastes  the  best  energies  of 
both  :  the  old  is  perfectly  correct  when  it  holds 
that  the  new  no  longer  rests  on  the  basis  of  ecclesi- 
astical tradition  ;  the  new  is  no  less  correct  when 
it  refuses  to  identify  Christianity  with  this  tradi- 
tion, and  seeks  to  bring  religion  and  culture  into 
friendlier  relations  with  each  other.  Since  any 
amicable  arrangement,  any  settling  of  this  con- 
flict on  the  ecclesiastical  basis  is  entirely  out  of 
the  question,  it  is  difficult  to  see  what  further 
progress  towards  reconciliation  can  be  made  upon 
this  basis,  and  of  what  possible  use  this  basis  can 
be  either  to  religion  or  to  mankind  as  a  whole  ; 
it  is  eminently  calculated,  on  the  contrary,  to 
bring  the  religious  movement  to  a  standstill. 

This  applies  still  more  closely  to  the  opposition 
between  Catholicism  and  Protestantism,  though, 
to  be  sure,  for  quite  a  different  reason.  This 
opposition  fails  to  harmonise  with  the  stage  which 
the  religious  problem  has  now  reached  in  the 


CHRISTIANITY  IN  CONFLICT 

course  of  its  historical  development.  For  certain 
as  it  is  that  the  motives  which  hold  these  two 
faiths  apart  are  rooted  in  a  question  of  principle, 
and  that  an  abiding  problem  underlies  their  diver- 
gence, the  problem,  namely,  of  the  relation  between 
community  and  personality  in  religion,  still  this 
problem  is  not  the  primary  problem  of  the  present 
day.  Again,  the  special  form  which  the  problem 
assumed  during  the  Reformation  period  can  no 
longer  be  adopted  for  our  own  uses.  To  put  it 
briefly,  we  divert  the  religious  movement  from 
its  proper  channels  when  we  persist  in  reverting 
to  the  opposition  which  dominated  the  sixteenth 
century,  and  allow  ourselves  to  be  distracted 
from  the  pressing  problems  of  reform  which  a 
radical  change  in  the  conditions  of  our  human 
existence,  and  a  change  in  the  place  held  by 
religion  in  the  Spiritual  Life  impose  upon  us  to- 
day. Why  should  we  live  a  life  that  is  not  ours 
instead  of  living  out  our  own  ?  Again,  it  is  often 
a  mere  cloak  for  his  own  nakedness  when  the 
Catholic  makes  such  a  point  of  never  letting 
Protestantism  forget  its  schism  and  infidelity ; 
and  the  Protestant  on  his  side  is  for  ever  remindiJng 
Catholicism  of  its  backwardness  and  superstition. 
Such  policy  succeeds  only  in  embittering  men's 
minds,  without  in  any  way  furthering  the  cause 
for  which  it  stands  ;  it  may  indeed  easily  obscure 
the  seriousness  of  the  present  crisis.  He  who  sets 
clearly  before  himself  the  complete  uncertainty 
we  are  in  concerning  the  bases  of  our  exist- 
ence and  the  main  direction  which  our  life 
is  taking,  who  sees  the  deep  rift  which  runs 
through  the  whole  human  race,  more  particularly 
i6o 


THE  CHRISTIAN  CHURCHES 

the  estrangement  of  religion  from  the  world  of 
culture,  and  the  utter  disruption  of  religion  in 
its  traditional  form ;  he  who  at  the  same  time 
realises  how  inadequate  are  the  means  so  often 
brought  forward  as  remedies,  how  frequently  men 
expect  to  get  all  the  help  and  healing  which  they 
need  through  the  simple  acceptance  of  new-fangled 
formulas  or  some  narrow  sectarian  programme, 
will  call  to  mind  the  saying  of  David  Hume,  that 
there  are  men  who  would  stay  the  torrent  of  an 
ocean  with  a  wisp  of  straw. 

In  truth  the  religious  problem  has  now  passed 
far  beyond  the  control  of  any  ecclesiastical  or 
sectarian  body ;  over  and  outside  the  existing 
churches,  and  through  them  and  beyond,  it  has 
become  a  concern  of  the  whole  human  race.  And 
AS  such  it  demands  to  be  treated,  but  this  is  not 
possible  unless  it  takes  on  new  shapes  and  follows 
new  lines  of  its  own.  But  we  need  not  worry 
ourselves  to-day  as  to  how  this  is  all  to  happen. 
In  questions  of  such  cosmic  range  as  this  all 
impatience  is  out  of  place ;  it  is  enough  for  us  if 
we  do  to-day's  duty  to-day.  Here  at  least  there 
should  be  no  uncertainty.  If  we  would  advance 
in  the  direction  of  truth,  we  need  above  all  to  be 
clear  as  to  the  nature  of  our  task.  In  particular, 
it  should  be  clearly  understood  that  when  we 
speak  of  the  age's  aspiration  after  a  revived  re- 
ligion, we  do  not  mean  by  this  a  simple  return  to 
the  ancient  forms  of  the  Christian  faith,  nor  have 
we  in  mind  any  mitigated  orthodoxy,  any  so- 
called  "  liberal  "  interpretation  of  these  ancient 
forms.  What  the  age  must  win  for  itself  is  an 
essentially  new  form  of  Christianity  answering  to 

M  l6l 


CHRISTIANITY  IN  CONFLICT 

that  phase  of  the  Spiritual  Life  to  which  the  world's 
historical  development  has  led  us.  It  is  a  great 
and  a  formidable  task  that  here  confronts  us,  and 
its  service  demands  of  us  a  steadfastness  that 
cannot  be  shaken,  and  an  energy  that  will  not  be 
bent  from  its  course.  But  these  will  be  ours  to 
give  only  as  we  yield  ourselves  to  the  cause,  and 
unreservedly  accept  its  necessities  as  the  guide 
of  our  life.  Nothing  less  than  this  can  make  us 
independent  of  the  conventionalities  of  our  daj', 
and  arm  us  for  a  conflict  to  be  waged  not  only 
against  declared  antagonists,  but,  with  more 
pressing  reason  still,  against  all  who  hedge  with 
the  truth  or  stultify  the  issue.  For  we  cannot  leave 
unchallenged  the  pusillanimous  disposition  which, 
though  more  or  less  favourably  (isposed  to  the 
cause,  shrinks  from  offending  public  opinion,  and 
shirks  a  decisive  Yes  ;  nor  can  we  tolerate  the 
temper  which  ignores  gradations  and  admits  no 
sharp  divisions  between  different  minds,  but  treats 
fulness  and  emptiness,  depth  and  shallowness, 
greatness  and  smallness,  as  of  similar  essence  and 
value,  fondly  confusing  such  featureless  neutrality 
with  justice  or  freedom  from  bias.  The  more 
forcibly  the  growing  conflict  and  confusion  makes 
manifest  to  every  thinking  creature  that  this 
problem  is  no  mere  fascinating  drama  which  we 
can  follow  from  a  point  outside  the  stage,  but 
is  a  stake  over  which  our  life's  very  meaning  is 
imperilled  and  our  spiritual  self-preservation 
threatened ;  the  more  clearly  we  realise  that  if 
Reason  does  not  reside  in  the  whole  structure  of 
the  universe,  it  cannot  be  found  in  any  single  spot 
of  it, — the  sooner  shall  we  be  entitled  to  hope  that 
162 


THE  CHRISTIAN  CHURCHES 

the  religious  problem  will  win  back  the  passionate 
enthusiasm  that  is  its  due,  and  that  our  work 
on  it  will  no  longer  assume  the  attitude  of  specula- 
tive reflection,  but  pass  into  the  constructive 
action  of  a  forward  policy. 


PLTMOUm 
BRENDON  AND  SON,  IJMITCD 
PKINTKHS 


Hat'per*s  Libfary  of  Living  Thought 

Per  Vol.,  Cloth,  as.  6d.  net ;  Leather,  3s.  6d.  net. 

The  Hon.  W.  H.  FREMANTLE,  D.D. 
(Dean  of  Ripen) 

NATURAL  CHRISTIANITY 

To  those  who  wish  to  know  what  the  most  advanced  believers 
in  Christianity  really  think,  and  upon  what  grounds,  this  book 
will  give  the  gist  of  the  matter  in  readable,  authoritative  form. 
The  Dean  discusses  the  constitution  of  the  Church  of  England, 
and  such  matters  as  prayer,  miracles,  faith,  immortality  and 
the  real  meaning  of  atonement,  election,  absolution,  making 
use  of  whatever  light  may  be  had  from  "common  sense"  or 
higher  criticism. 

Prof.  W.  M.  FLINDERS  PETRIE 

PERSONAL  RELIGION  IN  EGYPT 
BEFORE  CHRISTIANITY 

"The  author  gauges  what  ideals  were  already  part  of  the 
religious  thought  in  the  first  century.  The  separation  of 
the  new  ideas  in  the  teaching  of  Christ  and  of  the  Apostles 
from  the  general  terms  of  religion  at  the  time  is  the  only  road 
to  understanding  what  Christianity  meant  to  those  who 
actually  heard  the  teaching. " — Notts  Guardian. 

Prof.  REINHOLD  SEEBERG 

REVELATION  &  INSPIRATION 

"A  beautiful  exposition  in  which  critical  insight  and  reverent 
appreciation  meet.  A  very  careful  statement  in  which  every 
word  carries  weight.  It  is  a  pleasure  to  draw  attention  to 
this  helpful  little  stxidy."— Methodist  Timet. 

Prof.  ERNEST  A.  GARDNER 

RELIGION  AND  ART  IN 
ANCIENT  GREECE 

"A  profoundly  interesting  study  in  the  philosophy  of  reli- 
gion. He  has  dealt  with  the  religion  of  Greece  as  it  afTected 
the  art  of  sculpture,  and  with  the  reaction  of  that  art  upon  the 
ideals  of  the  people  and  the  popular  and  the  educated  con- 
ceptions of  the  gods.  An  epitome  of  the  subject  such  as  readers 
can  get  nowhere  else." — Scotsman. 


Harper's  Library  of  Living  Thought 

Prol.  JOHANNES  WEISS 

PAUL  AND  JESUS 

"Argues  that  the  Pauline  theology  was  the  expression  in 
terms  necessitated  by  the  ajse,  of  a  religious  attitude  directly 
derived  from  the  teaching  of  iaui."— Glasgow  Herald. 

Prof.  ARNOLD  MEYER 

JESUS  OR  PAUL? 

"  Traces  the  deep  spiritual  relations  between  St.  Paul  and 
his  Divine  Mawter.'  —tVestern  Morning;  Xews, 

Prof.  WILLIAM  WRBDB 

THE  ORIGIN  OF  THE  NEW 
TESTAMENT 

"  An  admirably  concise,  accurate,  and  temperately  worded 
summary  of  the  views  of  the  advanced  school." — Christ imi 
y^orld. 

Prof.  C.  H.  BECKER 

CHRISTIANITY  AND  ISLAM 

"  Establishes  a  double  parallelism  and  reciprocal  influeoLe 
between  the  two  religions." — Glasgow  Herald. 

Prof.  D.  A.  BERTHOLBT 

THE  TRANSMIGRATION  OF 
SOULS 

"  Of  considerable  significance  in  the  history  of  humanity." 

Daily  TtUgra^h. 

LBO  TOLSTOY 

THE    TEACHING    OF  JESUS 

"  Will  set  students  thinking  and  freshen  their  appreciation 
of  the  essence  of  the  teaching  of  Jesus." — Christian  World. 


Harper's  Library  of  Living  Thought 

Prof.  A.  W.  BICKERTON 

THE  BIRTH  OF  WORLDS  AND  SYSTEMS 

Illustrated 
Preface  by  Prof.  Eknest  Rutherford,  F.R.S. 

A  graphic  statement  of  Prof.  Bickerton's  theory  of  "Con- 
structive Impact" — the  formation  of  new  stars  from  the  collision 
of  dead  suns  or  other  celestial  bodies. 

Prof.  SVANTE  ARRHENIUS 

THE  LIFE  OF  THE  UNIVERSE 

2  vols.      Illustrated 

"  There  are  many  for  whom  the  first  chapters  of  Genesis  are 
a  subtle  allegory  covering  the  profoundest  truths,  and  we  are 
grateful  to  the  author  for  having  set  out  a  mass  of  facts  which 
are  vital  to  the  controversy." — The  Globe. 

Prof.  G.  ELLIOT  SMITH 

THE  ANCIENT  EGYPTIANS 

And  their  Influence  upon  the  ClyilUation  of  Europe 
Illustrated 
An  account  of  the  Egyptians  of  the  unrecorded  past  which 
is  revealed  by  the  investigations  of  the  anthropologist. 

Prof.  V.  M.  FLINDERS  PETRIH 

THE  REVOLUTIONS  OF  CIVILISATION 

Illustrated 
A  survey  of  the  waxing  and_  waning  of  civilisations  as  evi- 
denced in  sculpture,  painting,  literature,  mechanics,  and  wealth. 

CHARLES  H.  HAWES,  M.A..  and 
HARRIET  B.  HAWES,  M.A.,  L.H.D. 

CRETE,  THE  FORERUNNER  of  GREECE 

Maps,  Plans,  &'c. 

"  The  story  of  a  great  civilisation  which  flourished  before 
Abraham  was  horn."— Evening  Standard. 

Prof.  PAUL  VINOGRADOFF 

ROMAN  LAW  IN  MEDL/EVAL  EUROPE 

"Really  an  important  and  suggestive  study  which  no  student 
of  history  can  afford  to  neglect. ' — Manchester  Guardian. 


Harper's  Library  of  Living  Thought 

Prof.  FREDERICK  CZAPEK 

CHEMICAL   PHENOMENA 
IN  LIFE 

Discusses  in  clear,  concise  terms  the  great  question — "  Can  life 
be  explained  by  physics  and  chemistry  ?  " 

Prof.  F.  W.  HOTT,  F.R.S.,  M.D.,  etc 

THE   BRAIN   AND   THE  VOICE 
IN  SPEECH  AND  SONG 

Illustrated 
"Much  of  the  information  will  be  a  revelation. " — Nature. 

Sir  WILLIAM  A.  TILDEN,  F.R.S. 

THE  ELEMENTS 
Speculations  as  to  their  Nature  &  Origin 

Diagrams,  b'c. 

Points  to  the  conclusion  that  the  elements  resulted  from  a 
change  in  some  primal  essence. 

Sir  WILLIAM  CROOKES,  CM.,  P.R.S.,  LL.D. 

DIAMONDS 

Illustrated 
' '  In  clear,  terse  language  he  describes  how  diamonds  occur  in 
nature  and  the  methods  by  which  they  are  artificially  manu- 
factured."—J/a/»f/««i^^(7K(Trfl'»a«. 

sir  OLIVER  LODGE,  F.R.S. 

THE   ETHER   OF    SPACE 

Illustrated 
"  Precise  and  lucid,  it  summarises  oiu  knowledge  of  the 
all-pervading  substance  which  fills  all  space  and  penetrates  all 
matter  —  the  substratum  of  matter  itself." — Birmingham  Post. 

ALGERNON  CHARLES  SWINBURNE 

THREE 
PLAYS   OF   SHAKESPEARE 

"These  are  noble  essays,  in  a  style  which  is  as  youthful, 
rigorous,  and  uncompromising  as  in  the  days  '  Before  Sun- 
rise.' " — Westminster  Gazette. 


SI 


THE 


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